This online conference on the history and conservation of frames was co-organized by the museum’s curatorial and conservation departments to promote inter- and multi-disciplinary dialogue. The AGO is home to an important collection of historic frames, and a project is currently underway at AGO to catalogue and conserve this collection to make the collection more accessible for study and use. In light of this project, the symposium presented current research that contextualizes frames in their many incarnations, including research on frame makers, framing traditions, frames’ afterlives, frame collections, pairings of frames to paintings, artists’ frames, the commercial history of framing, and related topics.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024:

Welcome and Introduction to the Frames Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario

• Opening Keynote Address: Lynn Roberts [The Frame Blog, London]: “Histories of the frame” (30 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)

Morning Session:

• Martin Hanssen [Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena] : “The Bonn Diptych and Its Frame, c. 1485. Technical Investigations Into an Unusual Devotional Object
• Jesús Jiménez Peces [Complutense University, Madrid]: “The problem of originality and documentation in Spanish frames of the 17th century”
• Marco Bei [Scuola Normale Superiore]: “What really is a Maratta frame?”
• Federica Gigante [University of Cambridge]: “Venetian Fifteenth-Century Frames with Islamic Bookbinding Motifs”
• Q&A Session Moderated by: Adam Harris Levine (Art Gallery of Ontario)

Midday Session:

• Gerry Alabone [National Trust, England]: “Mary Ashfield: seventeenth-century London framemaker”
• Géraldine Bidault [Musee national du Chateau de Versailles]: “Notable bordures of the 18th century from the Versailles Palace”
• Marie Dubost [Freelance Conservator, France]: “La Reparure in Western Europe”
• Q&A Session Moderated by: Michael Gregory (Arnold Wiggins and Sons, London)

Afternoon Session:

• Cynthia Moyer [Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]: “A Neoclassical French frame at the Met: Recovery and Discovery”
• Genevieve Tobin [National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC]: “Gel-like Materials for Cleaning Gilded Picture Frames: Current and Prospective Research”
• Rosario I Granados [Blanton Museum of Art]: “Golden Crests. Frame-making in Venezuela in times of political change, 1750-1830”
• Philippe Avila [Independent Objects Conservator, New York]: “From East to West: Lacquer and lacquered frames in the time of discoveries."
• Anita Gowers [Australian National University]: “Reframing the Past: Unveiling how frame makers shaped Australia’s colonial art ecosystem”
• Q&A Session Moderated by: Julia Campbell-Such (Art Gallery of Ontario)

Thursday, September 26, 2024:

Morning Session:

• Adrian Moore [Tate Britain]: “Aes[ethics] and Frame Conservation at Tate”
• Flavia Crisciotti [Technical University Munich]: “Frameless: Veronese and Bellini on Display, 1930-1950”
• Julia Vázquez [Bibliotheca Hertziana]: “What’s in a Re-Frame?”
• Q&A Session Moderated by: Lisa Koenigsberg (Initiatives in Art and Culture, New York)

Midday Session:

• Tess Graafland and Josephina de Fouw [Rijksmuseum]: “Finding the Perfect Match: Framing and reframing at the Rijksmuseum”
• Elise Lopez [Musee d’Orsay]: “XIXe century frames collections: researches and observations from the Musée d’Orsay’s frame conservator”
• Liza Nathan [Tate Britain]: “Three Frames, One Painting: a contextual journey”
• Q&A Session Moderated by: Eric Birkle (Art Gallery of Ontario)

Afternoon Session:

• Gregory Porter and Andrew Haines [MFA Boston]: “The Conservation Treatment of the Frame on a 15th century Venetian Altarpiece by Bartolomeo Vivarini”
• Christopher H. Brooks and Allison Langley [Art Institute of Chicago]: “Reframing Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte- 1884: a process of research, revision and refinement”
• Sacha Marie Levay [Montreal Museum of Fine Arts]: “Journal of a Framer: Witnessing Framing Trends in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Canadian Paintings Collection”
• Allison Jackson [Harvard Art Museums]: “A Decade of Intentional Framing at the Harvard Art Museums”
• Q&A Session Moderated by: Tracy Gill (frame scholar and principal, Gill & Lagodich Fine Period Frames, New York)

Closing Keynote Address:

• Hubert Baija [retired Conservator of Frames, Rijksmuseum]: “Colorful Traces - Original Framing” (30 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)

Technical art history is where conservation meets art history. Scientific analysis of preserved original framing from the 15th-17th century Netherlands reveals more color than the black overpaint and stripped profiles that we see today. The original frame of a painting deserves preservation as a unique source of information.

Closing Remarks