The Framers Forum

The National Gallery have an appeal to raise the funds needed to buy a 16th Century Venetian frame for a painting by Titian called 'An Allegory of Prudence'. If you are interested in the appeal, here is the link:

Titian Frame Appeal

There is also a detailed post about the appeal, painting, and frame on the Frame Blog

So if you would like to own a small piece of a beautiful frame on a Titian, hanging in the National Gallery, now is your chance!

I like the frame it's in already better.

£27,000 I'll do it for £26,900.
What does uncut mean?

An uncut frame means that it has never been resized.

Total waste of money

I think it is good that museums, and higher end galleries and collectors now try and frame collections in a way that is period to the painting.
The actual frame choice is pretty subjective, but given that the frame and artist both came/worked from Venice at the same time, it is a very good match. Personally I prefer the proposed new frame, and think it looks much better than the current one.

To leave or put a painting in a frame that was made for a larger painting a hundred or even a few hundred years later (styles which did not exist when the painting was produced) when a more suitable and historically accurate frame is available seems a real shame to me.

It is obviously a lot of money, but a unique frame from the 1500's which is technically of very good quality, and in such untouched condition, is going to have a high market value.
I would have thought that picture framers who deal with artwork, where the value of the art can be incredibly high, would be able to appreciate the value of rare items.

People pay huge amounts of money for all sorts of things, modern made luxury goods costing tens and hundreds of thousands seem like a waste of money to me.

But who am I to say that something is a waste of money, or is worth a lot of money? One person's rubbish is another man's treasure. For example if people want to spend £25K on a autographed Marilyn Monroe picture or £30K on something signed by Bruce Lee, they are perfectly entitled to do so, although personally I don't see the value in such things. However an antique carved frame, made by master framemakers hundreds of years ago, that I can understand.

Well at least no-one's going to say "The bloody painting never cost THAT much"!

That National Gallery is free admission and it's a day out in itself - I don't remember if I made any sort of voluntary donation last time we visited but if I did I got more than my money's worth so I'm up for £20 and I bagsy about 5mm of the rebate that actually touches the artwork

.... and who is this blerk "Recently, our Head of Framing, Peter Schade has managed to source a fine, uncut, Venetian 16th century frame" ?? Is he a GCF updated with CPD!!

There was an interview with Peter Schade, head of framing at the National Gallery, on Radio 4 Front Row:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04tlr0b

starts at 21 min 10 sec...