Deep white box frame for canvas paintings

Most box frames are too shallow for a painting that sits on a deep stretcher. This one is built the other way round. The section is a plain square, 50 mm across the face and 50 mm from the face to the back plane, with the rebate cut 45 mm deep, so a gallery-wrap canvas drops straight in and needs no packing behind it. From the front you see a broad, quiet white band around the work, standing 50 mm clear of the wall. It is the deepest of my white picture frames, and I build each one to the measurements of a single painting.

The profile

The section is a square. From the artwork side the face runs flat across the full 50 mm and meets the outer flank at a square arris. The flank drops the same 50 mm and carries the same finish, so the frame reads as a box from an angle as well as from straight on.

Specification

• Style: box frame, plain square section, no ornament
• Finish: sprayed white finish with a satin sheen; high gloss available on the same section
• Moulding width: 50 mm
• Moulding thickness (face to back plane): 50 mm
• Rebate: 7 mm wide × 45 mm deep
• Material: timber with a low tannin content, of the kind used in museum work and art conservation
• Corners: mitred at 45° and reinforced with wooden splines, joined and sanded before painting
• Colour: white as standard; any shade from the NCS range to order
• Glass, backing and mount: available on request at extra cost
• Mounting and hanging: sprung clips as standard, cord fitted, portrait or landscape
• Suitable for: oils and acrylics on stretcher, gallery-wrap canvases, canvas prints
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

Every frame is made to the measurements of one particular work. Enter the dimensions of the painting itself in the calculator, to within 0.1 cm. I build the frame 2 to 3 mm larger than those figures as a technical clearance, so the moulding covers roughly 4 to 5 mm of the edge of the work.

Which paintings and interiors it suits

The rebate depth decides how the painting sits. On a standard 20 mm stretcher the canvas is set well back inside the frame and reads as a deliberate recess, with the white sides of the box visible around it. On a 35 or 40 mm stretcher the painted surface comes close to level with the face and the frame reads as a border rather than a well. Both are worth having, and it is worth telling me which you are after when you order. The section takes oils and acrylics on stretcher, gallery-wrap canvases and canvas prints; if the work in question is a print on canvas, I set out how I approach that in my notes on framing canvas prints.

In a room, a frame this plain does very little talking. It belongs on flat white or pale walls, in modern and gallery-style interiors, and around paintings with strong colour or a busy surface that would be smothered by a moulded profile. It is also the right choice when several works hang together and the framing needs to be identical and unobtrusive across all of them.

How I make and finish it

I cut the lengths to your dimensions, mitre the corners at 45° and reinforce them with wooden splines, then sand the joined frame flat before any colour goes on. That order is the whole point of this model: with the joint closed and levelled first, the finish crosses the corner as one film and there is no seam to catch the eye.

The colour is sprayed rather than brushed, in coats that are cut back between passes, which is what gives a face this broad its even, unbroken surface. White with a satin sheen is the standard. The same section can be sprayed in any shade from the NCS range, and in high gloss instead of satin, so tell me the reference number and the sheen you want when you order.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

A ready-made box frame arrives in fixed sizes, assembled from pre-finished lengths, which means the corner joint is a visible line where two painted surfaces meet. It also means you fit your painting to the frame. Here the sequence runs the other way: the frame is cut to your painting, the joint is made and levelled before finishing, and the surface is continuous around all four corners. The section is worked from timber with a low tannin content rather than from a wrapped composite, so the moulding stays dimensionally stable and does not release acids into contact with the work.

Functionality

The frame is supplied without glass, as a mount for a painting on stretcher, where the moulding itself does the protecting. The rebate is 7 mm wide, so the edge of the work is covered by about 4 to 5 mm and no more. For a canvas whose stretcher sides are meant to stay visible, I can make the same section without a rebate, as a floating frame with a gap around the canvas.

If you want the box shape in something much slimmer, I make a narrow white box frame on a 20 mm face. The general reasoning behind this construction, and when it beats a moulded profile, is set out in my box framing guide.

Complete framing – additional options

Every frame I make can be completed with full archival and museum-quality framing: anti-reflective UV-filtering glass (four classes to choose from), acid-free museum mat board, spacers wrapped in acid-free paper and a Dibond backing. This kind of mounting protects the work from light, acids and distortion. I set out the full glass and material specification on a separate page: archival and museum framing for paintings and photographs. All components are available at extra cost, as an individual quote on request.

Mounting and hanging

I hold the painting in the frame with sprung clips that turn aside when you change the work, which makes the frame easy to handle. On request I fit permanent, screwed brass plates instead. For hanging, I attach cord as standard, in portrait or landscape orientation; a single D-ring on request.

Ordering made to measure

The base price shown on the site is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the full length the frame needs: corners cut at 45 degrees take extra length, and the wider the moulding, the more they take. The calculator accounts for the full moulding consumption with corners and for any options you choose, so you only need to enter the dimensions of your painting to within 0.1 cm. The calculator handles formats up to 120 × 80 cm, and I make larger sizes to individual order. The lead time is 20 to 30 working days.