The Frame Blog

 FRAME: Concept, History & Conservation: Symposium 3 was held from 16th-18th February 2026 at the Theatre Royal in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost capital city.

This was the third in a series of frame symposia organised in Australia, following those held in Melbourne in 2016 and Sydney in 2019, both under the auspices of the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material. At the commencement of the symposium the Muwinina people were acknowledged as the traditional owners on the land of Nipaluna I Hobart, on which the symposium took place.

This event provided a rare opportunity to meet face-to-face with frame specialists and enthusiasts from around the world (eighty-three attended), to experience a varied and interesting programme, in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

Dr Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau from the Musée du Louvre and Josephina de Fouw from the Rijksmuseum were the international keynote speakers. As curators of both paintings and frames, they presented unique insights into the frame collections in their respective institutions, including changing attitudes to picture frames over time.

Dr Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau, keynote address: ‘The collection of antique frames and the framing policy at the Louvre: “an extremely delicate balance between presence and effacement” (Georg Simmel)’. Photo: Louise Bradley

In the opening keynote address, Dr Chastel-Rousseau, chief curator, Spanish and Portuguese paintings (16^th-19^th centuries), frame collection, Beistegui and Lyon collections, discussed the origins of the approximately 9000 antique frames in the Musée du Louvre, including around 3000 empty frames. The Louvre frames are based on earlier royal collections, and many frames were acquired in the 20^th century through bequests and purchases.

Musée du Louvre: empty frames waiting after WWII to be reunited with their paintings. Photo: Roger Viollet

During the Second World War, Christiane Aulanier, a volunteer, compiled an inventory of around 2000 frames in the collection as they lay empty whilst the museum was closed, the paintings having been removed for safe keeping to the countryside. The inventory was the basis of a major reframing project at the time, including frame restoration and acquisition. Recently, the empty frame collection has been studied in detail as part of its relocation to new off-site storage facilities.

First room in the exhibition Regards sur les Cadres, Musée du Louvre. Photo: Louise Delbarre

Following the exhibition at the Louvre in 2018-2019 (see ‘The exhibition Regards sur les Cadres, and the frame collection of the Louvre‘), the Museum now presents a permanent exhibition of its frames without paintings, recognising the significance of this part of the collection. The Louvre has a framing and gilding workshop on-site and employs conservators in the nearby Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France.

 

Josephina de Fouw, keynote address: ‘”That French cackling frame I hated so much”. Frames and framing at the Rijksmuseum, 1800-2025: evolving ways of seeing’. Photo: Alastair Bett Photography

Josephina de Fouw MA, curator of 18^th century paintings and frames, gave the second keynote address; she described all the directors of the Rijksmuseum since the institution’s founding in 1800, and their particular and often contrasting views on the framing of the collection.

Johannes Vermeer (1632-75), Woman reading a letter, c.1663, o/c, 46.5 x 39 cm., in some of its various frames, Rijksmuseum

This is reflected in the case of Vermeer’s Woman reading a letter, which has had at least four different frames in the last 175 years.

Pieter J. J. van Thiel, director of the Department of Paintings, 1964-1991, undertook extensive research on 17^th century Dutch frames with his colleague C.J. De Bruyn Kops, culminating in the exhibition Prijst de Lijst in 1984, with an accompanying catalogue, which was translated into English in 1995.

Images from the exhibition Prijst de Lijst, and reframing a School of Fontainebleau portrait: before (left) and after (right)

Impressively, all 2300 frames at the Rijksmuseum, including a large empty frame collection, are included in the official museum inventory, which links them to the paintings they have housed at different periods, and enables specific reframings (like the one shown above). The Rijksmuseum has two frame conservators in its staff, and a strong commitment to frame preservation, with a policy of not cutting-down historic frames, and for loans to use temporary frames in place of original/fragile frames, or in cases where adaptation is required for climate control.

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 For the purposes of this report, the presentations have been grouped under general headings.

FRAME HISTORY

 

 Marei Dohring giving her paper, ‘Framing the avant-garde: how folk and non-Western art inspired early 20th century picture frames’

Marei Dohring, PhD candidate, discussed the influence of folk and non-Western art on the framing of avant-garde artists in Europe in the early 20^th century. Rejecting the academic tradition of ornate gilded frames, artists turned to a variety of sources for inspiration in the creation of innovative frames as part of the total work of art.

(top) Oberrheinischer Meister, Nativity, 1458, 61.2 x 56.3 cm., Kunstmuseum, Basel; (below) Kandinsky (1866-1944), St George & the dragon, 1911, reverse glass painting, 19 x 20 cm., Lenbachhaus, Munich

For his reverse glass paintings, influenced by traditional Bavarian folk art, Wassily Kandinsky produced frames with brightly coloured painted decoration. Clarence Gagnon (1881-1942; a French-Canadian artist who exhibited in Paris) was inspired by quilt designs and furniture decoration in the stencilling technique he used on his frames. Emil Nolde decorated his frames with carving which refers to ornaments used on furniture and mangle boards, whilst Ernst Ludwig Kirchner reportedly considered many of his original frames as temporary; when his paintings were displayed in museums, he wanted them in gilded frames, so they did not stand out.

 

Cynthia Moyer, associate conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Suzanne Smeaton, independent frame historian, gave a recorded overview of frames designed by the American architect Standford White, often for his artist friends: ‘Examination and consideration of an important Stanford White American frame’. His early patterns were inspired by Italian Renaissance tabernacle and aedicular frames, some with multiple added rows of classical ornament.

Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938), Bessie Springs Smith White, 1887, o/panel, 33 x 24.8 cm., in frame by Stanford White, husband of the sitter, and reverse with detail, Metropolitan Museum, New York

Subsequent designs featured detailed overall ornamentation, including a scale motif, a fine grille lattice and decoration inspired by lace. Technical examination was undertaken on several pierced open-work frames, including the intricate and unique frame on an 1887 portrait of Stanford White’s wife, Bessie Springs Smith White by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, with x-radiography revealing a very fine metal thread structure inside the composition lacework.

 

Providing an Australian perspective, Anita Gowers presented reflections on historical framing in Australia, and the household manuals which prescribed domestic interior decoration, with the aim of being as British as possible: ‘Hanging in the balance: display culture in the 19th century.

Charles Eastlake, Hints on household taste in furniture, upholstery, and other details, 1869, London, p. 175-76. Internet Archive

Gowers has researched interiors, frames and decorative arts thoroughly, in order to understand the growth of art collecting and the display of artworks in the homes of 19^th century Australia [1].

 

Robert Zilli, conservation framemaker, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), continued the theme, presenting research on the thriving framemaking trade in colonial Brisbane: ‘Framing the colony of Brisbane: the 19th century Brisbane picture framing industry’.

Oscar Friström (1856-1918), Duramboi, 1893, o/c, 46.4 x 40.9 cm., Queensland Art Gallery

By studying surviving frames and frame labels, trade directories, archival photographs and advertising material, professional networks which linked framemakers and artists were uncovered. This included A.L (Agnes Louise) Hambleton, whose Brisbane framemaking workshop, established in 1889, supplied frames to Anthony Alder and other prominent local artists (like Oscar Friström, above). See ‘Go behind-the-scenes as we reframe Red-tailed black cockatoos’.

 

Monika Rdzanek-Solecka, conservator of gilded and polychrome wooden objects, artist and digital painter, delivered a beautifully illustrated talk (recorded): ‘Images of frames in paintings from The National Museum in Warsaw, Poland, as a source of historical information about framing styles’.

Wojciech Stattler, Portrait of Alfred Potocki and Adam Potocki, 1832, oil on oakwood board, Inv. no. MP 268 MNW, h.154,5 cm, w. 113 cm., National Museum in Warsaw. Photo: Piotr Ligier

This included images of private homes, artists’ homes and studios, and exhibition halls depicting changes in the display of artwork. She also touched on images of frame designs to show the connected history of architecture and frames. Monika’s paper is soon to be published on The Frame Blog.

 

Mara Verykokou, curator of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine collection at the Benaki Museum in Athens, gave a recorded presentation on ‘Italian frames on post-Byzantine icons from the collection of the Benaki Museum’.

Theodorus Poulakis, Hymn to the Virgin, ‘In thee rejoiceth…’, second half 17^th century, 92 x 64 cm., framed overall 120 x 93 x 12.5 cm., in contemporary carved giltwood cassetta decorated with scrolling grapevines and centred on each side with a cherub’s head, Benaki Museum

El Greco (1541-1614), Adoration of the Magi, 1560-67, 56 x 62 cm., in a carved giltwood moulding frame with three orders of ornament, Benaki Museum

Cretan workshop, Virgin Glykophilousa: the Immaculate, early 16^th century, 65 x 54 cm., in a late 19^th-early 20^th century cassetta decorated with bone plaques engraved with floral motifs and inlaid with tortoiseshell, Benaki Museum

 

The icon collection of the Benaki Museum contains many with integral or otherwise attached frames, but this talk focused on those with moveable frames. Mara presented fifteen examples of icons from the Museum, from the 15-18^th centuries, which have Italian frames: these included original and early frames as well as later reframings, in tabernacle, cassetta, Baroque and Sansovino styles. Her paper considered how the icon might be perceived differently if in an original frame, unframed, or reframed by a later owner, and how this might affect the display of an icon in the museum.

 

FRAME CONSERVATION

Dr Malgorzata Sawicki, keynote address: ‘Decision-making in gilded wood conservation: a critical framework for evaluating regilding, in-gilding, and in-painting’. Photo: Alastair Bett Photography

 The Australian keynote speaker, Dr Malgorzata Sawicki, former head of frames conservation, Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), discussed the ethics of frame conservation and restoration, particularly the issue of regilding. A decision-making framework for gilded wood conservation was proposed, with reference to ethical frameworks from the Getty Conservation Institute, the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Dutch Foundation for the Conservation of Contemporary Art (SBMK).

A key aspect is to define treatment goals, especially to consider the importance of preserving original integrity versus restoring aesthetic qualities. Localized in-gilding can achieve an aesthetically integrated appearance, whilst preserving all extant original material (with intervention confined strictly to areas of loss); whereas regilding, although providing an aesthetically unified appearance, creates a new surface which lacks historical character, and inevitably destroys original material.

 

Exciting recent research into gels for cleaning gilded picture frames was outlined by Genevieve Tobin, frame conservator: ‘Insights into developing organic solvent gels of partially hydrolyzed poly (vinyl acetate) and boron-based crosslinkers for cleaning gilded picture frames’.

Miniature aedicule in Venetian lacquer and pietre dure, currently in use for Corneille de Lyon, Portrait of a man, c.1536-40, National Gallery of Art, Washington, with before (left) and after (right) details of cleaning

These customizable gels allow the controlled release of polar organic solvents, while conforming to vertical and ornate surfaces, with the ability to be removed by peeling, and applied multiple times. Previously, partially hydrolysed poly (vinyl acetate) (PVAc) crosslinked with borax was tested, while more recently the borax was substituted with benzene-1,4-diboronic acid (BDBA) that produces gels with no water. Residue studies using instrumentation with high levels of detection indicate no residues in most cases. The collaborative research was undertaken at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and included gel cleaning of two frames: an aedicular frame at the NGA, and a 19^th century frame from the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway.

 

Stephanie Carlton, frame conservator, discussed the widespread earlier alteration of frames, reflecting changes in use, changes in fashion and/or previous damage: ‘Oh, what a life. An exploration of frame history, evolving tastes and uses, and conservation ethics, through the conservation treatment of a 17th century British Auricular frame in the National Portrait Gallery, London’.

Frame in the Royal Collection: the blue outline defines the original Venetian panel frame, massively aggrandized with added hollow and top mouldings to more than 3 times the initial width of the rail, and with huge projecting rocaille corners

Typical alterations were documented during conservation treatment of several frames, including an 18^th century carved and gilt oval frame with original white gesso finish to the bunched leaf ornament.

Stephanie described ‘a catastrophically delaminating gilded surface’, with at least four overlayers, causing many in the audience to shudder, and to admire her calm manner in the face of such a treatment.

These case studies serve to illuminate ethical considerations regarding the adaptation of historic frames and the appropriateness of making structural changes to frames as historic objects.

 

Robert Zilli continued this theme in his presentation: ‘Framing Tragedy: frame conservation and tradition in the treatment of George Romney’s Mrs Yates as the Tragic Muse’. He described the  radical restoration necessary for the 18^th century British Rococo frame of Romney’s 1771 portrait, a work which measures nearly three metres high, and is in the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery.

George Romney (1734-1802), Mrs Yates as the Tragic Muse Melpomene, 1771, o/c, 238 x 151.5 cm., before & after restoration of painting and frame, Queensland Art Gallery (QAGOMA)

There were numerous old poor-quality repairs as well as surface delamination related to the previous re-gessoing and regilding of the surface on multiple occasions.

Robert Zilli, working on the frame of Romney’s Mrs Yates…, 2022. Photo: N Harth, QAGOMA

This project, which was undertaken with Damian Buckley, conservation framing technician, and other specialists, included selective cleaning using poly (vinyl alcohol) borax gels as a carrier for solvents, mechanical removal of later gesso layers in areas to reveal fine carved details, and replacement of ornament using Queensland White Beech adhered with hide glue prior to carving in situ.

 

Another major collaborative treatment on an extremely large frame was discussed by Holly McGowan-Jackson: ‘A monumental frame and treatment: the return of the frame to The Pilgrim Fathers…’

Charles Cope (1811-90), The Pilgrim Fathers: departure of a Puritan family for New England, 1856, o/c, 221.5 x 287.6 cm., after restoration; National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne

The frame had been made in 1871 in Melbourne by the framemaker W.R. Stevens, and was found in storage in four parts; it required extensive repairs and cleaning. Bella Lipson-Smith, Assistant Conservator, digitally reconstructed the lost corner ornament in the recreation of the missing decoration.

Frame of The Pilgrim Fathers…: stages of restoration (from top, before, during and after)  and Holly McGowan-Jackson cleaning using Nanorestore Gel®

Holly cleaned the heavily soiled gilding at the bottom member while retaining the original glue-based coating using Nanorestore Gel® Peggy 5 and 6, while Jason King, NGV Frame maker, devised a thoughtful and effective mechanism for re-joining the frame corners.

 

Yukkiko Barrow, senior furniture and frames conservator, outlined ingenious methods used to undertake the conservation of two Chippendale gilded looking-glasses owned by the Victoria & Albert Museum: ‘Positive and negative castings for gilded replacement parts in areas with limited accessibility’.

Chippendale (1718-79), one of pair of NeoClassical looking-glasses, c.1771, carved giltwood (pine), 411 x 178 cm., Harewood House, V & A

The looking-glasses, measuring over four metres high, are located at Harewood House in Leeds, where they are integrated into the interior wall structure. In addition to the challenges of working at a height, access to the frames for treatment was limited to the occasional closure periods of the historic house, and consequently much of the work had to be undertaken remotely in London.

Gilded replacements placed on the black and white planning map of the crest ornament at the V & A conservation studio before the site visit

A leaf tip replacement being fitted to the looking-glass

For the replacement of around fifty missing ornaments, silicone impressions were made of both the intact areas and the edges of the loss, which were then used to create plaster replacement parts which fitted the uneven edges of the break. These parts were gilded and toned in London, and once back at Harewood, adhered in place, and the final toning was executed in situ.

 

Barbara Dabrowa, Senior Frames Conservator, outlined diverse frame treatment and reframing case studies in her presentation: ‘Frame conservation – Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney’.

E. Phillips Fox (1865-1915), Autumn Showers, 1900, o/c, 140.4 x 155.2 cm., Art Gallery of New South Wales

This included the major treatment of the original frame for E. Phillips Fox’s Autumn Showers, 1900, which involved removal of brass-based bronze paint using a combination of mechanical removal, acetone applied with swabs, and poly (vinyl acetate)/borax gel.

 

Highlighting the close connection between frames and paintings, Joanna Lang, a conservator in private practice, presented a paper on the frame as an integral part of a painting.

Joanna Lang, ‘The frame as an integral part of the painting: conservation challenges of three Tasmanian gilded frames across three centuries”

She discussed three examples of frames which required extensive treatment themselves, in addition to the treatment of the painting. She explained carefully why frames should not be regarded as a secondary element, but as a component historically and aesthetically integral to the paintings they enclose.

 

Louisa Stark, paintings conservation intern, presented carefully researched information on the widespread involvement of easel painting conservators in frame conservation work, in regional UK Museums and Galleries, due to the apparent decline of dedicated in-house frame conservator roles in these institutions. This was one of the symposium’s  ‘Lightning talks’, and was recorded: ‘The remit of the easel painting conservator in frame conservation within the conservation departments of regional UK museums and galleries today: an exploration of contemporary attitudes and working practices’.

George Henry (1858-1943) & Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864-1933), The Druids – bringing in the mistletoe, 1890, o/c, 15.4 x 152.4 cm., Glasgow Museums

See also her 2024 presentation, ‘An exploration of the rôle of the easel-painting conservator in relation to picture frame conservation today’, at the 42nd Gerry Hedley Student Symposium.

 

FRAME DOCUMENTATION

 

Photogrammetry graphics of a rectilinear garland frame, and the resultant 3D printed moulding

 Isabella Baker, graduate architectural student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, illustrated the way in which she used photogrammetry on her phone to document frames while visiting galleries in Italy: ‘Reframing ornament: a close inspection of Italian Renaissance and Baroque picture frames with smartphone-based photogrammetry’.

Details of the photo and photogrammetry graphics captured from left-hand lateral rail (with cherub) of the frame on Veronese (1528-88), Bevilacqua-Lazise altarpiece, 1548, Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona

A free phone application, Polycam, was used for data capture, with refinements and analytical diagrams made using Rhino3D (computer-aided design software) and Adobe Illustrator.

 

Antonio Ciseri (1821-91), Portrait of Giovanni Dupré, c.1885, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Palazzo Pitti

This engaging talk inspired a discussion about how this and other technologies might be used for documenting accurately picture frame profiles and other details.

 

Michael Gregory, from Arnold Wiggins & Sons, discussed the value of frame documentation and archives to help identify and preserve original frames and later collectors’ frames, and to inform frame restoration and reframing: ‘How the use of the picture frame archive informs framing decisions’.

Amongst the examples he presented were 18^th century frames on paintings by Canaletto and George Stubbs which had been, most disturbingly, stripped of their gilding down to the bare wood (a fashion it seems at some point in the 20^th century), while the Stubbs frame was also missing outer mouldings. Reference to other examples of these frames with their original finishes, identified through the Wiggins Frames & Framing Archive database, were used to inform the restoration and regilding of the stripped frames.

Michael also gave a ‘Lightning talk’ on ‘The reframing of a portrait of George IV by Sir Thomas Lawrence, the Wallace Collection’.

 

FRAME MAKING, GLAZING & TRADITIONAL SKILLS

 Many of us were in awe of the unique experience of Tom Langlands, framemaker at the AGNSW, who spent three weeks in Bali learning traditional Balinese wood carving. He gave a ‘Lightning talk’ on ‘Carving in Bali. Edmond Capon Fellowship, October 2025’.

Tom Langlands carving with traditional tools in Bali

This training was made possible through a fellowship awarded annually to a staff member at the gallery to undertake professional development in an Asian country. Guided by a master carver, Tom spent many hours carving with traditional handleless carving tools, located on an outdoor undercover platform in a Balinese village. It was a valuable and immersive cultural and practical experience, and he has continued to use the skills gained in his framemaking practice.

 

Dr Phillip Blacklow, contemporary furniture maker and timber researcher, gave a ‘Lightning talk’ describing the use of traditional methods to repair the finish and undertake stabilization treatment on a Tasmanian Huon pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii) veneered picture frame: ‘Repairing the veneered surface of an 1830s Huon pine frame: a maker’s perspective’.

Dr Jennifer Booth, head of the Fine Art & Museums team at Tru Vue, described the company’s products, including oversize sheets for glazing, currently up to a maximum of 1.8m x 3m, and soon to be produced 2m x 3m in size: ‘Size really does matter’.

 

Louise Bradley at the lectern

Maximilian Lenz, Woman with a golden cloak (Femme au manteau doré), 1904, gouache, 86.5 x 35 cm., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Using archival methods and materials, Louise Bradley outlined in one of the ‘Lightning talks’, ‘Replicating a bronze powder mount’, how she created a replica flash gilded mount to replace the damaged mount in an original frame for a gouache painting by Maximilian Lenz. She gave a second ‘Lightning talk’ entitled ‘Exploring reverse carving to make frame ornament moulds’.

Women of Tasmania at Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Hobart; the frame on the left was made by Louise

Louise also described an ongoing project: ‘Glazing at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts’, part of the State Library and Archives of Tasmania. Frames were documented and modified as minimally as possible during the addition of Tru Vue Optimum Acrylic® glazing, spacers and backing boards.

 

RECEPTION & TOURS

 

A hang at Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Hobart. Photo: Louise Bradley

Following Louise’s presentation, attendees went on a tour of the Allport galleries with curator Caitin Sutton, and a behind the scenes tour of the storage areas led by conservator Effie Pryer.

The ballroom, Government House, Hobart. Photo: Louise Bradley

Symposium participants received a special invitation to attend the opening reception at Government House, hosted by the Governor of Tasmania, the Honourable Barbara Baker OA and Emeritus Professor Don Chalmers. Completed in 1857, Government House is a fine example of an early Victorian country house in the neo-Gothic style, including a ballroom with a decorative vaulted ceiling and a stunning polished Huon pine floor.

Visiting the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; the hang includes the pair of mid-19th century portraits of Robin Vaughan Hood and his wife in frames by his son (see below), displayed side-by-side in the middle of the wall. Photo: Louise Bradley

Restoring the past, exhibition: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 6^th February-21^st June 2026

The following afternoon, participants visited the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and viewed the exhibition Restoring the Past, which focused on the treatment of three 19^th century paintings and their ornate gilded frames. Lisa Charleston, Conservation Technician, and Kate McKay, Assistant Conservator, were on hand to answer questions about the treatment work which they had undertaken.

W.P. Dowling (c.1824-77). Robin Vaughan Hood, 1851, o/c, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania. With thanks to Louise Bradley

The exhibition highlighted the parts played by the wonderfully named Robin Vaughan Hood and his son, Robin Lloyd Hood. The former emigrated from London with his wife and son in 1833, travelling as a carpenter, and established a business in Hobart which involved not only joinery but carving, gilding and framemaking. He won a medal in the 1851 Great Exhibition in London’s Hyde Park for his ‘Huon pine, musk and myrtle picture frames’ [2], and he made the frames for the two portraits in the exhibition, Restoring the Past, above. His own portrait is set in a frame by his son, who took over his father’s business in 1851.

Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament of Tasmania, Hobart. Photo: Louise Bradley

At Parliament House participants in the symposium were given a guided tour of official rooms, including the parliamentary chambers, as well as the vaulted basement with bricks marked with a symbol indicating convict manufacture.

 

FINAL SESSION

In the final session, Michael Varcoe-Cocks, Associate Director, Conservation, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), was interviewed by Anita Gowers. He described the development of the NGV Centre for Frame Research, supported by the Professor AGL Shaw AO Bequest, which enabled the employment of an in-house framemaker (now an ongoing role).

John Thallon’s ledger, 1888-1903, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Major achievements include the launch in 2021 of the Centre for Frame Research content on the NGV website, and in 2023 the publication on the website of a searchable version of Thallon’s ledger, containing client orders for Melbourne framer John Thallon, dated 1888-1903.

Michael Gregory, Michael Varcoe-Cocks, Anita Gowers, Malgorzata Sawicki and Philip Blacklow taking part in the final panel discussion of the symposium

The symposium’s final panel session underlined many of the themes from the previous three days of presentations and discussions. This included exploring ways to educate the staff of institutions and the community generally as to the value and significance of frames. The employment by the Musée de Louvre and Rijksmuseum of specialized curators of frames was seen as an excellent model. Opportunities for training in traditional framemaking skills and frame conservation were seen as a high priority, with practical hands-on training being of great importance. There was optimism that, in the future, new technologies might be used both to document frames accurately and to enable the sharing of information about frames, compiled by individuals and organizations around the world. In closing, it was announced that FRAME Symposium 4 will be held in Melbourne in 2029, hosted by the NGV.

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FRAME: Concept, History & Conservation: Symposium 3 was made possible through the significant efforts of the organizing committee, headed by Anita Gowers, frame researcher, along with Barbara Dabrowa, Louise Bradley and Malgorzata Sawicki. It was supported by the University of Tasmania. Sponsorship was provided by Tru Vue, Sophie Brown Conservation & Framing, the Picture Framers Guild of Australia, and Dr Phillip Blacklow Consulting. Delicious morning teas and lunches were catered by the Hobart Hamlet Café, which provides training for those facing barriers to employment.

Many thanks to the organizers, presenters, and everyone who attended for creating such an inspiring and enriching event.

For further information and abstracts, please see the Symposium programme.

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FRAME Symposium 3 organising committee and keynote speakers – from left: Barbara Dabrowa, Louise Bradley, Josephina de Fouw, Anita Gowers, Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau and Malgorzata Sawicki. Photo: Alastair Bett Photography

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Authors:

Holly McGowan-Jackson, senior conservator of frames & furniture, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia (symposium presenter)

Louise Bradley, conservation framer in private practice, Australia (symposium presenter and member of symposium organising committee)

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[1] For example, see Charles Eastlake, Hints on household taste in furniture, upholstery, and other details, 1869, London, p. 175-76; Internet Archive

[2]  Quoted from Kevin Fahy & Andrew Simpson, Australian furniture: pictorial history and dictionary, 1788-1938, in Austaliana, vol.20, no 3, August 1998, p.77