Cream and Blue Picture Frame with 23-Karat Gold Trim

This is a painted frame with gold trim rather than a frame gilded all over: a 70 mm classical profile with a cream face, blue sides and three separate bands of 23-karat gold leaf, water gilded by hand. It belongs to my range of picture frames gold gilded and partially painted, and like every frame I make it is cut and finished to your artwork, not to a stock size.

The moulding profile

From the inner edge the surface drops into a shallow cavetto and lifts again immediately into a rounded ridge. Hollow and ridge read as one continuous form and are gilded across their whole width, which is what gives the gold its weight beside the picture. Behind the ridge the surface drops away in a small step and settles into the wide flat, the cream field that takes up the middle of the moulding.

Towards the outside the profile rises twice more: first a narrow raised band, 3 mm across and gilded, then a quarter-circle hollow left in colour. A gilded ovolo, a convex quarter-round, closes the outer edge. The sides of the moulding are painted blue, so the colour reads at an angle and along the wall rather than head-on.

Specification

• Style: classical, architectural profile
• Finish: cream face, blue sides, three bands of 23-karat gold leaf, high gloss
• Moulding width: 70 mm (about 2¾ inches)
• Moulding thickness (face to back): 33 mm with a 10 mm rebate, 43 mm with a 20 mm rebate
• Rebate: 7 mm wide, 10 mm or 20 mm deep, chosen from the order menu
• Material: low-tannin timber of the kind used in museum work and art conservation
• Corner joinery: mitred at 45 degrees and reinforced with wooden splines before the ground is applied
• Gilding: 23-karat gold leaf, water gilded
• Glazing, backing and mount: available as add-ons, see Complete framing below
• Artwork retention: sprung clips
• Hanging: picture wire; portrait or landscape chosen from the order menu
• Suitable for: oil and acrylic paintings on stretchers, rigid panels
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

Which artworks and interiors it suits

The profile was drawn for painting rather than for paper: 70 mm of width holds its own against a canvas with visible brushwork, and the gilded ridge at the inner edge carries the eye into the picture instead of stopping at the rim. It suits oil and acrylic work on stretchers, portraits and landscapes in a traditional register, and panel paintings. If you are choosing between finishes for a particular canvas, I have written up the practical side of framing oil paintings separately.

In a room the cream field keeps the frame quiet against a pale wall, while the blue sides give it a second reading from across the room. It sits comfortably in classical and transitional interiors, and against strong wall colour the gold bands do the work of separating the picture from the wall.

How the frame is made

The lengths are cut and mitred first and the corners reinforced with wooden splines, so the joint is closed before any finishing begins. Only then does the frame receive its ground, and the bole that goes under the metal. The gold is laid on water, leaf by leaf, with a small overlap where one leaf meets the next; you can read more about the technique on my page about water gilding. The cream and the blue are applied by hand and brought to a high gloss.

Because the finishing happens after the frame is assembled and to the frame as a whole, the colour and the gold run without interruption around the corners. That is the practical difference between a frame built to a size and a frame cut down from a finished length of moulding.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

Mass-produced frames are made from pre-finished moulding, cut and pinned to the nearest standard size, with an imitation metal foil standing in for gold. This frame is made the other way round: built to the dimensions of your painting, then grounded, painted and gilded with genuine 23-karat leaf. The gilded accents are metal, not paint or foil, and they will keep their colour rather than dulling to brass.

Functionality

The frame is supplied without glazing as standard, which is how oils and acrylics on canvas are normally framed. The rebate is 7 mm wide, with a depth of 10 mm or 20 mm chosen from the order menu: 10 mm suits a standard stretcher, 20 mm takes a deep-edge canvas or a stretcher with a cradle. If you would rather see the edges of the canvas, this profile can also be made without a rebate, as a floating frame for canvas art.

Frequently asked questions

Is the whole frame gilded, or is the gold a trim?

The gold is a trim. Three bands carry genuine 23-karat leaf: the hollow and ridge at the inner edge, the narrow 3 mm band, and the ovolo at the outer edge. The cream face and the blue sides are painted. If you want the same profile gilded across its full width, I can make it that way as well.

Which gold tone suits an oil painting?

23-karat yellow gold, as used here, is the warmest and the most traditional choice, and it holds up well against the browns, earths and reds of oil painting. For a cooler picture, or a contemporary palette, 22-karat moon gold is paler and slightly silvery, and 12-karat or 6-karat white gold cooler again. Tell me what the painting is and I will suggest the tone.

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

Yes. Glazing, an acid-free mount and an archival backing can all be added to this frame; the rebate depth is chosen accordingly when the order is placed. The classes of glazing I work with are set out on the archival framing page linked below.

Can the colours be changed?

Yes. The cream, the blue and the tone of the gold are all decided per order, and the same profile can be painted in a single colour with gilded bands, or in two colours of your choosing. Send me a photograph of the painting and of the wall it will hang on and I will propose a combination.

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

The painting is held in the rebate with sprung clips, fitted as standard; they turn aside so the canvas can be taken out and put back without tools. Brass plates are available on request and are supplied loose with their screws, for permanent fixing by you or your framer. Picture wire is fitted as standard, with a single D-ring available instead on request. Portrait or landscape orientation is chosen from the order menu, so the hanging hardware is fitted the right way round before the frame leaves the workshop.

Made to measure

The base price shown on this page is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the whole length of moulding a frame needs: corners cut at 45 degrees consume additional length, and the wider the moulding the more they take. The calculator works out the full consumption including the corners, together with any extras you select.

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. Once the order is confirmed, the frame takes 20 to 30 working days.