The study of picture frames in general, and of Renaissance frames in
particular, is a discipline in its infancy. Historic frames have always
been the poor cousins of important collections of paintings and
drawings. Throughout most of the modern (that is, post-medieval) era,
original frames were discarded whenever a painting changed ownership,
and a new frame more suitable to the work of art's new surroundings was
provided. Only in the late nineteenth century did museums and private
collectors develop an interest in historical authenticity that extended
to frames as well as to the objects they contained, by which time frames
more than one or two hundred years old had grown exceedingly rare.Structure and Design
The development of frame design is inextricably tied to that of architecture. Whether intended for use on paintings, reliefs, or mirrors, frames were invariably designed as parts of an architectural interior and were frequently meant to harmonize with door and window surrounds. Their color, shape, and ornament were generally determined as much by their settings as by what they contained. Not only did frame design evolve with architectural taste, but frames were also often changed as interior decor was updated in order to conform to the demands of an altered context. No matter whether an eighteenth-century "Salvator Rosa" frame is appropriate to a cinquecento Crucifixion, or whether a Velázquez portrait is flattered by an English Rococo frame: pictures have always been required to live unobtrusively among furnishings of a period not their own, and frames have always been the vehicle enabling them to do so.
