This is the National Gallery's Framing Department, the main workshop, and we
are working on the back of the frame for the 'Artemisia'. Frames have to be in fully
working order at the National Gallery so that paintings are safely contained
and the glass, if it needs to be glazed, can fit into the frame and old frames
tend to have rebates; spaces where the canvas used to sit
that are generally too small for what we require these days so build-ups
are necessary on the back of frames. We've actually retained the original
hanging hook, hanging device, but henceforth it'll just be for ornamental
purposes but it is such an integral part of an old frame that we tend to keep
these original features even so they are no longer actually going to be used for
hanging the painting up and Keith Buddin, the National Gallery's
Framing Technician, is the person who is normally responsible for making
build-ups on frames and is going to perform this.
There's two different heights of the build-up: one is to take the picture plus a back board
and the back board sits within the outer build-up's height so this will be
enclosed with a back board. The outer build-up will have the brackets put
on it that can be screwed to the wall.
Once this is done, I put glass in, if need be, after that,
also I velvet these inner edges.
This is the frame now, essentially ready for the
painting with a build-up and velvet and the necessary depth also for
glazing in the future so initially that amount of depth is not
needed but once it goes on loan, or if it ever leaves the Gallery, it will have
glass in front of it for protection and then the extra depth as necessary.
So this is a really exciting moment: we've chosen the frame between the two
that we'd narrowed it down to and now we can see the restored painting in the frame
and now we get a chance to see how they really work together
and I think it's really superb. I like the way the crop is still tight and yet
it feels a bit relaxed with the darker frame around the outside and the
addition strip across the top, all these things we hoped would happen
seem to be happening.
I like the way the finger reaches to the end, you feel the sort of
energy as she bursts out at every angle. She really fills the picture space and
that becomes even more obvious, I think, now she's framed.
- And the frame with only these partial bits of gilding
do make the crown, which also has gold sticking
out of darkness, does replicate that effect.
And all those things we hoped would be enhanced that are in the painting, I
think, the adjustment of the white values and
the fact that the elbow really does come out and she
moves back in space, all those things... even the halo dipping behind the window
of the frame it's all doing what we wanted I think it's...
- The neutrality of the black
which is not like the brown in the background but dark...
I like the way the ridge of pane
of her, kind of, ochre cloak picks up on that as well.
It's a funny balance isn't it? A frame that really enhances it that isn't too kind of
matchy matchy also. It seems to be working really, I think, very well.
And I think there's just no getting around the fact that it's preferable to have an
original frame as we've chosen.
Yes, that's our preferred method of framing
paintings: whenever we can, to source frames of the right period which, of
course, for an almost square picture is a challenge because it's very unlikely
you'll ever find a frame with this ratio.
It's very lucky that we were able
to modify this in a way that makes it work for this format.
Yes, the fact that it was the right height which means that, because of the design
of the frame, that really not only that this length is untouched but
actually most of the ornament, because the ornament actually follows around on
this upright member, so all of that we left completely untouched
and were able to disguise the extension in width quite effectively.
Yeah the scale for all the ornaments and
all the parts of the frame is absolutely unchanged really. The big, the larger
relationships...
- Yes, most of the ornament, that part of the frame, is completely
untouched and original which I think made it possible to effectively extend it.
I think you could have replicated it but I like the idea of
having this picture hanging in a genuinely old frame.
- And there are, if you look at it,
there are wormholes and cracks and just elements which look of real
age rather than the artificial aging which is something that you just
can't replicate or not easily and you don't get that kind
of random effect of real age.
It's such an interesting question to the way our
appreciation of the sense of an aged frame and an aged painting and whether
they're in step with one another; sometimes we have pictures that, you know,
look newer than their old frames and sometimes it's the other way around but
this one seems to be in a kind of harmony I think it.
All these things that work without needing to draw attention to themselves,
they just are, and it seems calm and really effective...
- It's the most natural combination of picture and frame.
And so now she's ready! So the next stage is really to hang the painting on the
walls and let the public come in and see her so we'll have to try and schedule
that in. It's very exciting; the thought of her finally going on the
wall in her frame and thinking also about...we talked about this when we
chose the frame, thinking about the scale of the frame in this room as opposed to
being in the galleries. Obviously the proportions will feel slightly different
in the grand spaces downstairs, you know, where everything is much grander, much
larger, where she'll hang next to larger pictures. It's a very exciting moment.