Black Flemish Picture Frame with Moon Gold Trim

This black Flemish picture frame carries one line of gold. The moon gold sits in a narrow hollow where the moulding meets the painting, and everything beyond it, the wide flat, the stepped outer edge and the sides, is painted black, so the gold stays a thin bright line at the edge of the canvas. The frame is 100 mm wide and 50 mm thick, and I make each one to the measurements of a single painting. Black frames with a gilded inner edge have their roots in seventeenth-century Flemish and Dutch framing, a tradition I cover in my article on Dutch and Flemish frames.

The moulding profile

At the painting the moulding opens with a narrow hollow, a concave band cut into the wood that carries the gold and leads the surface up to a wide black flat. The flat takes up close to half the width of the moulding and lies about 30 mm above the back of the frame. Towards the outside the section climbs in stages: a short step and a narrow flat, a quarter-round cavetto and a second narrow flat, and then an ogee that lifts the profile to a flat top edge along the outer perimeter, at the full 50 mm. The outer side is divided by a concave recess, so the side reads as two bands. At the corners the section is worked into the Flemish corners that give the frame its name.

Specification

• style: black frame with Flemish corners and a gilded inner edge
• finish: painted black by hand and waxed to a satin sheen
• gilding: the hollow at the inner edge only, in 22-karat moon gold leaf, water gilded over red bole, burnished with an agate stone and sealed with shellac and wax
• moulding width: 100 mm
• moulding thickness (face to back): 50 mm
• rebate: 7 mm wide, 20 mm deep
• material: timber with a low tannin content, of the kind used in museum work and art conservation
• corners: mitred and reinforced with wooden splines
• glazing, backing and mat: optional, quoted individually
• fixings and hanging: sprung clips as standard, brass plates on request; picture wire, single D-ring on request; vertical or horizontal
• use: oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, on a stretcher up to 20 mm thick

You order the frame to the size of the painting, giving the dimensions of the canvas. I build in 2–3 mm of technical clearance, and the moulding overlaps the edge of the artwork by roughly 4–5 mm.

Paintings and interiors it suits

The 20 mm rebate takes a standard stretcher, so the frame is made first of all for oil and acrylic paintings on canvas. At 100 mm the moulding is scaled for medium and large works, where a wide border has room to settle around the picture. The black steadies a strong palette, and the single gilded edge keeps the frame formal without the weight of gold across the whole face, which suits portraits, still life and landscape in the older manner as much as contemporary painting.

In a room the frame reads as a dark border with one light line at the canvas. It sits naturally in period interiors with dark timber and panelling, and on a plain white wall it gives a single painting a firm edge. It belongs to my painted frames with gilded accents, where a black or coloured moulding carries one gilded element.

How the frame is made

I cut the moulding to the size of your painting and join the corners first, mitred and reinforced with wooden splines, so each corner is closed in the bare wood before any finishing goes on. Gesso is then built up on the assembled frame in several coats and worked smooth, and in the hollow at the inner edge I lay red bole, the coloured clay ground on which the gold will rest.

The gold is laid by water gilding. The leaves measure about 80 × 80 mm, so for a hollow this narrow I cut them into strips with a knife on the gilder's cushion and lay them along the curve leaf against leaf, with an overlap of about 1 mm. Laid this way, the gold is one layer; the layering belongs to the ground beneath it. Once the leaf has set, I burnish it with an agate stone, compressing it against the bole until it takes a bright polish, and seal it with shellac and wax. My page on water gilding sets out the method step by step.

Moon gold is a 22-karat leaf, paler and cooler than 23-karat yellow gold, with a faint silvery cast. The red bole beneath the leaf warms its tone slightly. The rest of the face and the sides are painted black by hand and waxed to a satin sheen, and the black stops at the edge of the hollow, so the gold runs as one continuous line around the painting.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

A mass-produced black and gold frame is usually MDF or foam wrapped in printed foil, with the gold line printed or sprayed on, cut to stock sizes and stapled at the corners. Here the moulding is timber, the corners are splined before any finishing, the gold is genuine leaf laid on water over bole and burnished by hand, and the black is painted by hand rather than sprayed. I keep no finished sizes in stock: every frame is cut, gilded and painted for one painting, and the small differences between two frames are the trace of that hand work.

Functionality

I supply the frame without glazing, for a painting on a stretcher. The rebate is 7 mm wide and 20 mm deep, so it takes a stretcher up to 20 mm thick, about ¾ inch; if yours is deeper, send me its depth before you order, so that I can make the rebate to suit.

I also make this section without a rebate, as a floating frame, in which the painting stands inside the moulding with a narrow shadow gap around its edges. My article on the floating picture frame for canvas art explains when that construction suits a painting better.

Frequently asked questions

Is the whole frame gilded, or only the inner edge?

Only the inner edge. This is a painted frame with gilded accents: the hollow where the moulding meets the painting carries genuine 22-karat moon gold leaf, and the flat, the stepped outer edge and the sides are painted black by hand.

Which gold tone should I choose for an oil painting?

Moon gold suits cool, muted and tonal palettes, such as greys, blues and greens, because it lightens the edge of the canvas without pulling it towards yellow. For warm earth colours and deep browns, 23-karat yellow gold gives a stronger, warmer line, and 12-karat white gold goes cooler still. I make this section in all three, so if you are unsure, send me a photograph of the painting and I will suggest the tone.

Can this frame take conservation-grade low-reflection UV glazing?

Yes. It leaves the workshop without glazing because it is made for paintings on stretchers, but for a work on paper or a photograph I can add conservation-grade low-reflection UV glazing, an acid-free mat and a Dibond backing, quoted individually. With a frame this wide I would allow a traditional mat border of about 1½ to 2¼ inches, 40 to 57 mm, and the 20 mm rebate is deep enough for glazing, mat and backing together.

Can a gilded frame be made within a tighter budget?

Yes, and the saving comes from the section rather than the gold. A narrower moulding with a smaller gilded element takes less leaf and less hand work per metre, while the gilding stays genuine gold leaf. Send me the size of your painting and a rough budget, and I will suggest a simpler profile.

Complete framing – additional options

Every frame I make can be completed with full archival and museum-quality framing: conservation-grade low-reflection UV glazing (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

Sprung clips are fitted as standard. They turn aside to let the work in and back to hold it, and they cope with anything from a thin board to a stretched canvas. Brass plates with screws are available on request and are supplied loose, for permanent fixing once the work is in place. Hanging orientation, vertical or horizontal, is chosen from the order menu. Picture wire is fitted as standard, and a single D-ring hanger can be fitted instead if you ask for it.

Ordering made to measure

Measure the artwork to within a millimetre, enter both figures in the calculator and choose the hanging orientation in the product options.

The base price shown is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the artwork is not the whole length a frame consumes: mitres cut at 45 degrees take extra length at every corner, and the wider the moulding, the more they take. The calculator accounts for the full consumption of moulding including the corners.

For this moulding width the calculator handles artworks up to 180 cm around the perimeter; anything larger is made to individual order, so send me the dimensions and I will price it. Glazing, backing and mat are quoted separately. Every frame leaves the workshop in 20–30 working days.