Dark Wood Picture Frame for Oil Paintings

A dark wood picture frame for oil paintings on canvas: a wide moulding hand-painted in a brown so deep it reads as black, with red showing through along the edges. The colour is built in paint rather than stain, over a red layer that is worked back to the surface by hand at the corners and the high points, so the frame carries the depth of aged wood instead of one flat, even tone. It is quiet enough to sit around a dark, traditional palette without competing with it.

Profile of the moulding

The moulding is 80 mm wide and 42 mm thick, with a soft, spreading section. At the artwork it opens with a shallow cavetto, a gentle quarter-round hollow that climbs towards the middle of the width and runs up into a rounded roll, the highest point of the whole profile. From that crown the face falls away in a broad hollow which takes up most of the width of the moulding. The outer edge is closed by three steps, set a little above the floor of the hollow and each dropping lower than the last towards the outline of the frame.

Specification

• Style: classical gallery moulding, dark and quiet, for traditional painting
• Finish: hand-painted near-black brown over a red layer, patinated by hand at the edges, corners and high points, satin sheen
• Surface protection: sealed with shellac and wax
• Moulding width: 80 mm
• Moulding thickness, face to back: 42 mm
• Rebate: 7 mm wide, 20 mm deep
• Material: low-tannin timber used in museum and conservation work
• Corner joinery: mitred at 45 degrees, reinforced with wooden splines
• Glazing, backing and matting: archival additions on request
• Artwork retention: sprung clips as standard, brass plates with screws on request
• Hanging: picture wire on two D-rings, portrait or landscape from the order menu
• Suitable for: oil and acrylic paintings on stretchers; works on paper once glazed
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

Every frame is made to the dimensions of the artwork, so enter the size of the painting in the calculator on this page. The frame is cut 2 to 3 mm larger than the figures you give, and the moulding overlaps the edge of the work by roughly 4 to 5 mm.

Which artworks and interiors it suits

A brown this dark does for a painting much of what black does, without the chill: it closes the composition and keeps the wall from crowding it, while the red along the edges answers the earth tones of a traditional palette. It suits oil and acrylic on stretchers above all: landscapes, portraits, still life and old master copies. Dark frames of this kind have a long history around Dutch and Flemish painting, which I set out in my guide to Dutch frames and the reverse profile.

On the wall the 80 mm face reads as gallery weight rather than decoration, and the three steps keep the outline crisp, so it settles into a panelled room as readily as onto a plain modern wall. It is one of the custom picture frames I make singly, to the measurements of one painting. The same profile is also made with the band beside the artwork gilded in genuine gold, as the black and gold frame with 22-karat gold leaf.

How the frame is made

The moulding is cut at 45 degrees and the corners are joined with wooden splines before any finishing begins, while the timber is still bare, so the joint never has to be disturbed later. The colour follows: a red layer first, then the dark brown over it, both from a richly pigmented paint range and laid on by hand. Once the brown is dry I work the red back through it along the edges, the corners and the crown of the roll, the places where a frame of this character wears thin with age. That patination is what makes the section readable at so dark a tone, since it is the worn edges rather than the colour that carry the eye across the profile. The surface is then sealed with shellac and wax for a satin sheen.

How it differs from mass production

A factory frame is a length of moulding wrapped in printed foil or sprayed on a line, cut to a stock size and stapled at the corners. Here the mitres are splined in bare wood, the colour is painted and waxed rather than covered, and the red beneath the brown is a real layer of paint worked through by hand, not a pattern printed on film. The timber is low in tannin, so it will not discolour the finish from underneath, and the frame is cut to one painting rather than to a shelf size, which is usually what decides whether it looks right around the work.

Functionality

The frame is supplied without glazing, as a setting for a painting on a stretcher. What it will hold is governed by the rebate rather than by the 42 mm thickness of the moulding: the rebate is 7 mm wide and 20 mm deep, about ¾ in, which takes a standard stretcher. Works on paper, prints and photographs need glazing, a backing and usually a mat, matched to the particular work.

The same profile can also be made without a rebate at all, as a floating frame for canvas art, with the painting standing clear inside the moulding and a shadow gap running around it.

Frequently asked questions

Is the frame stained wood or painted?

Painted. The colour is built in paint over a red layer and patinated by hand, which gives the surface the depth of old dark wood rather than the even tone of a stain or a foil.

Will it take a canvas on a deep stretcher?

The rebate is 20 mm deep, about ¾ in, which takes a standard stretcher. If your bars are deeper, send me the depth with the dimensions of the painting before you order.

Does it come with glass?

No. It is supplied as a canvas mount, without glazing. Conservation-grade low-reflection UV glazing, an archival mat and a backing can be added to any frame I make, priced on the size of the work.

Will my frame look exactly like the photographs?

Close, but not identical. The patina is worked by hand, so the strength of the red and the wear along the edges differ a little from one frame to the next.

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

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 width and the height of the painting, on a stretched canvas the outer edges of the bars, and enter both figures in the calculator to within 0.1 cm, with no allowance of your own, because I add it in the workshop. The hanging orientation, portrait or landscape, is chosen in the same order menu.

The base price shown is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the whole length of moulding 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, together with the options 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. The calculator prices the frame alone, without glazing: glass, backing and mat are matched to the particular work, so send me a message if you want the painting framed under glass. The lead time is 20 to 30 working days.