5 minute read
Exhibition Framework
by MICHAELA NEIRO Objects Conservator
Conservator Michaela Neiro cleaning surface dirt from a water gilded frame.
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The frame is an important part of a painting’s story. Its main purpose is to protect a painting from dust, abrasion, and climate. Frames also enhance and direct viewers’ attention to artwork, make it more opulent, and inform a time period or style.
Frames can be inconspicuous unless they are in poor condition; missing elements, exposed wood, or discolored overpaint can bring unwanted attention. It is often easier to get a new frame than to conserve the original, but this rarely is for the best. The artist or owner most likely chose the particular frame to enhance the work of art and relate to the room décor.
In preparation for Historic New England’s upcoming paintings exhibition, Artful Stories: Paintings from Historic New England, the conservation staff is Conservators prepare for Artful Stories
stabilizing, cleaning, and restoring the frames for the paintings in the show. This allows for a close study of the materials and construction of more than forty frames in Historic New England’s collection.
Most of the frames we are treating for the exhibition are gilded—an ancient decorative technique in which a very thin coat of gold leaf is applied to a surface. The gold leaf can be applied using oil or water, and the methods of gilding are often an indicator of period, quality, or artisanship.
Water gilded frames generally start with carved wood moldings and ornaments that are coated with gesso, a white primer that dries hard and thin. The gesso-primed surface is covered with bole, a colored clay mixed with rabbit skin glue. Bole is available in many colors although red, yellow, and dark gray are most common. After the bole hardens it is sanded smooth, then the gold leaf is applied to the smoothed surface using water to reactivate the glue. The gold can then be burnished to produce very shiny, reflective areas. In the early days of candle- or gas-lit homes, the flickering of the light on the burnished and unburnished areas of the frames produced a dramatic and highly desirable effect.
Damage to water gilded frames often is visible along the bottom edge of the structure where wellintentioned cleaners either dusted aggressively or used a damp rag to clear away dust. The thin layer of gold can be easily wiped off using water or other solvents. However, abrasion of the gold also can be intentional to allow the color of the bole to be seen and offer a more rustic or distressed look.
In Europe and America after 1810, molded decoration cast in plaster— or a material called composition or compo—began to replace carved decoration in frame production. Production of such frames was quicker and less costly, eliminating the need for a skilled carver. From 1850 on, large frames, heavily embellished with cast ornamentation, became the preferred style for American landscape paintings.
Compo is a mixture of animal glue, linseed oil, a filler like chalk or gypsum, and often a pine resin. It is warm and clay-like when pressed into rigid molds. Compo decoration can be highly detailed and complex, therefore it is generally oil gilded, an application technique that is much simpler and requires far less preparation of the surface. Because the oil does not harden the way bole does in water gilding, the gold cannot be burnished to a high shine. Complex, matt oil gilded areas were often arranged adjacent to flat water gilded areas to achieve contrasts in shine. The ease and variation of compo decoration allowed for great creativity and vibrancy in frames.
Composition shrinks over time because of the slow drying of the linseed oil. A telltale sign that a frame is compo is the presence of evenly spaced, consistent cracking along the ornament of a frame. Another indicator is the tan or putty color of the ornament below the gold. This can be seen through the cracks or in areas of lost decoration. Neither colored bole nor gesso is necessary for oil gilding.
The next time you look at a painting, take a moment to focus on the frame and think about how it might contribute to your appreciation of the painting. Be a detective—do you think the frame is original to the artwork? Is it oil or water gilded (maybe both)? Is the decoration carved or composition? Does the date of the painting match the date of the frame?
Artful Stories will be on view at the Eustis Estate in Milton, Massachusetts, May 2, 2020, through March 21, 2021. In addition to enjoying the paintings, use your visit to test your knowledge about frames.
President and CEO Carl R. Nold retires this spring after seventeen years of service to Historic New England. A constant throughout Carl’s forty-year career has been his passion for sharing history and museums with children.
Under Carl’s leadership, the number of schoolchildren served by Historic New England’s innovative school and youth programming increased 290 percent to 45,000 students annually. These programs serve our most diverse audience, but they are underfunded. Many students can participate only because Historic New England subsidizes transportation and program fees.
To ensure that Carl’s commitment to school and youth programming continues in perpetuity, Historic New England created the Carl R. Nold Fund for Museum Education, a permanent endowment fund.
You can help make Carl’s vision a reality by supporting the Carl R. Nold Fund for Museum Education. Please visit HistoricNewEngland.org/Education for more information.
I came to museum work from a background in both history and education. I’ve long believed that unless they are shared, even the finest collections have little value to the public. Engaging young people through educational activities ensures that museums, collections, and our shared stories have a future. —Carl R. Nold, president and CEO
