Vigo County Historical Society

Bicentennial sparked increased interest in antique picture frames

Collecting picture frames can be an aid in accenting artwork, pictures and embroidery handiwork in your home. The Bicentennial in 1976 seemed to stimulate a nostalgia craze and interest in antique picture frames resulted.

Family portraits in large rococo frames, covered with gold leaf, were removed from the attic and dusted off. Grandmother’s crocheted doilies and antimacassars found themselves surrounded by a colorful mat and placed in an appropriately sized old frame. Needleworkers in counted cross-stitch sought the antique frames as they are most suitable for the new samplers, which are often aged to look like those made a hundred years ago.

Framed mirrors with two panels were common until about 1840. The lower section, about twice as long as the upper one, was looking glass. The smaller panel was painted with a landscape, seascape, vase of flowers, an eagle or fruit basket in various colors or in gold leaf and black.

A similar type is a Tabernacle mirror with gold leaf covering the frame. On each of the four sides of the frame are pilasters, either turned or carved with acanthus leaves.

In the Victorian period, the trim and frames were covered with gold leaf, not metallic paint. Applying this thin sheet of real gold is an art and is very expensive today. Frames were made of walnut, mahogany and cherry. Late 19th- and 20th-century frames had old gilt gesso decoration with details such as vines, oak leaves, animals and acanthus leaves.

Victorians enjoyed placing their lithographs in frames of natural wood. Many of these frames had criss-crossed corners with a leaf ornamental decoration or a china button ringed with brass. If a carved leaf ornamented the corner, the wood frame often was incised to look like bark.

Many antique frames can be found throughout the museum, surrounding pictures of notable Vigo County men and women. Various collections and scenes from Terre Haute’s past also are framed and hung for visitors to enjoy.