Gold Leaf Picture Frame with Hand-Painted Sides

This gold leaf picture frame with hand-painted sides sits at the narrow end of my gilded range: real leaf, but on a moulding that does not compete with the picture. The whole face is gilded, and the painted finish sits on the outer side, where it shows as soon as the frame is seen from an angle: smooth black with a satin sheen, or black and brown with the brush marks left visible. It belongs to my range of gold gilded and partially painted picture frames.

The moulding profile

At the picture, the face opens with a small cavetto, a shallow concave curve a few millimetres across. It runs straight into an ogee, the double curve that takes up almost the whole width of the face: it swells outwards, turns over at its highest point and finishes as the crowning outer edge. With the highest point at the outer edge, the gilded face rises as it moves away from the picture. The outer side is flat and vertical, 45 mm from face to back, and carries the hand-painted finish.

Specification

• Style: classical ogee profile with a gilded face and hand-painted sides
• Face finish: water gilding in genuine gold leaf on gesso and coloured bole, sealed with traditional shellac and wax
• Leaf options: 23-karat yellow gold, 22-karat moon gold, 12-karat white gold, 6-karat white gold
• Bole: colour agreed with you
• Side finish: hand painted, smooth black with a satin sheen, or black and brown with the brush marks left visible
• Moulding width: 25 mm
• Moulding thickness (face to back): 45 mm
• Rebate: 7 mm wide, 20 mm deep; 30 mm deep on request
• Material: timber with a low tannin content, of the kind used in museum and conservation framing
• Joinery: mitred corners reinforced with wooden splines, joined before any ground is applied
• Glazing, archival backing and mat: available as add-ons, quoted individually
• Mounting and hanging: sprung clips as standard, brass plates on request; picture wire, or a single D-ring on request
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days
• Suitable for: oil and acrylic on stretched canvas, works on paper, photographs and prints

Enter the dimensions of the artwork itself into the calculator, to the millimetre. I build the frame about 2 to 3 mm larger than the size you give me, so the work seats without forcing, and the moulding then covers roughly 4 to 5 mm of the edge on each side.

What this gold leaf frame suits

A 25 mm gilded face reads as a line around the work rather than a second composition beside it, so it suits pictures that a wide frame would overwhelm: small oils, studies, drawings, prints, photographs and stretched canvases. In a room, the leaf sets the tone and the painted side sets the character. Yellow and moon gold sit comfortably with wood, warm whites and traditional furniture; the white golds, which read as silver, work with grey, cool and contemporary schemes. Smooth black on the side gives a clean dark edge against a pale wall, while black and brown with visible brushwork looks warmer and older. My guide to frame types for canvas paintings compares the options if your piece is on a stretcher.

Making and finishing

The corners are cut at 45° and reinforced with wooden splines before any ground goes on, so the joint holds the corner, not the finish. Then come several coats of gesso, rubbed back between coats, and over them the coloured bole, the fine clay on which the leaf is laid. Gold leaf arrives in squares of roughly 80 × 80 mm, far wider than this profile, so I cut each one down on the gilder’s cushion before laying it. The leaf goes on one piece at a time onto wetted bole, each overlapping the next by about a millimetre, and that single layer is the gold you see. The surface is then either burnished bright with an agate stone or hand-patinated so that the bole shows through, and sealed with traditional shellac and wax. The side is painted by hand and sealed the same way. I describe the process in full on my water gilding page.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

A factory moulding in this shape arrives finished and in fixed lengths, its gold usually a foil or sprayed coating, often over a synthetic core, and it is cut to size afterwards. Here the order is reversed: the frame is joined to your measurements first and only then gessoed, gilded and painted, so the finish continues unbroken around each corner. The gold is metal leaf, not a coloured coating, so it can be burnished and patinated, and it ages with the frame instead of peeling away from it.

Functionality

The frame is supplied without glazing as standard, which is how oils and acrylics on canvas are normally framed. What it can hold depends on the rebate rather than on the 45 mm thickness of the moulding: the standard 20 mm rebate takes a typical stretcher, and for a deeper stretcher bar I can cut it to 30 mm on request. Works on paper and photographs go behind glazing, with a backing and, where the sheet must not touch the glazing, spacers. The frame can also be made without a rebate, as a floating frame with a shadow gap around the canvas; I explain that construction in my guide to floating frames for canvas art.

Frequently asked questions

Is the whole frame gilded, or only the front?

The front is fully gilded in genuine gold leaf, from the edge of the picture to the outer edge of the moulding. Only the outer side, 45 mm (1¾ inches) from face to back, is painted: smooth black with a satin sheen, or black and brown with the brush marks left visible.

Which gold tone should I choose for an oil painting?

23-karat yellow gold is the warmest and most traditional, and sits naturally against oil paint. 22-karat moon gold is paler and cooler, faintly silvery, for paintings where full yellow would be too strong. The white golds read as silver: 12-karat is softer, 6-karat cool and almost chrome-like, and both suit grey, blue and monochrome work. The bole matters as well, because where the leaf is patinated its colour shows through and shifts the tone; a grey bole, for example, quietens and cools the gold. You are welcome to send me a photograph of the painting before you order.

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

Yes. For works on paper and photographs I can complete it with conservation-grade low-reflection UV glazing, an acid-free mat, spacers and a Dibond backing. For oil and acrylic on canvas the frame is normally used without glazing. These components sit outside the calculator, and I quote them individually for the particular work.

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

The base price shown on the page is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the artwork is not the full length of moulding a frame needs: the corners, cut at 45°, take up additional length, and the wider the moulding, the more they consume. The calculator accounts for the full run of moulding including its corners, plus the fittings and options you choose. Glazing, archival backing and mat are quoted separately.

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. Lead time is 20 to 30 working days. If your order is tied to a date or an exhibition, get in touch first and I will tell you what is realistic.