Customer Reviews

Frames & Framing (Ashmolean Handbooks)

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I enjoyed this thin little 80pp book, but it may be more than some were looking for, depending on just how deep your interest into the subject of antique framing is.

The book described the frames primarily at the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford, although some paintings hanging at other museums and galleries were mentioned as ancillary examples to the main point trying to be made about each of the Ashmolean paintings. The best thing about the descriptions were were the profile drawings of the frames with the scale dimensions given. There was quite a variety with a fair amount of background history including how and why the paintings were originally framed and the reasons for re-framing, which normally was due to a change in artistic fashion rather than merely natural deterioration, as one might expect.

My one complaint about the book was the small size of the pictures of the paintings in the introductory section, rendering them all but useless for real study. However, that was only a minor problem and I felt the book overall was worthwhile, as the technical descriptions were helped by the glossary at the end of the book.

I found the discussion of the difference between a hand carved frame made for just one particular painting and a composite frame which had moldings that could be used on various paintings to be a useful bit of enlightenment.

The book was fine for what it was, but it was definitely not a price guide [no values were even discussed] nor was it a how to book. With those caveats in mind, I found it a useful reference for my art library.