FRAMES FOR DRAWINGS

Old Master drawings have always been highly prized by connoisseurs as they reveal something of the artist's inner creative process employed in making a finished painting or sculpture. It is not surprising, therefore, that some of the greatest drawings collections have been formed by artists.

Tinted drawings, or pen and pencil sketches were not accorded with sufficient importance, nor were they regarded as having the visual weight, to be framed and hung with paintings. It was more usual for collectors to assemble their drawings in albums or large folios, often pasted onto sheets and enhanced by decorative borders which served a similar purpose to a frame by focusing attention on the drawing. Distinctive styles were adopted, perhaps the earliest and most distinguished was the Libra de' disegui assembled by Georgio Vasari (1511-1574) who drew elaborate trompe l'xil mannerist frames around the drawings. The French collector Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774) displayed his drawings with exquisite taste in frames and albums. These drawings were laid onto sheets around which were pasted strips of blue paper and narrow ribbons of gilded paper and an arrangement of pen and ink lines.

Early instances of drawings being framed can be noted. An inventory of Sir Peter Leiy's studio in 16~2 refers to "Craions of Sir Peter Leiy in Ebony Frames". The 1697 inventory of The Bonfiglioli Collection records many drawings "in cornice, e casset- ta dorata con vetro"', probably the ones William Kent records see- ing in his travel diary of 171~. Drawings by Raphael and Carracci purchased in 1683 by Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, are recorded in 17/9 displayed in frames in the Chapel Room at Wilton House.

During the 18th century water colours were often framed and artists such as Francis Towne and Alexander Cozens drew pen and ink lines with water colour washes around their drawings; Richard Wilson bordered his watercolours of Rome painted in the l750's with lilac paper. Works in pastel and in body colour such as Marco Ricci's capriccios, many of which retain their original carved and gilded Venetian rococo frames, were regarded as comparable to paintings and were framed and glazed without .mounts in frame patterns similar to those used for works in oil.

By the early 19th century water colourists were creating more technically ambitious and larger works of art and framing them in wider and more elaborate gilt frames to achieve equal status in exhibitions with works painted in oil. As a reaction against this trend Pre-Raphaelite artists employing their own aesthetic designed frames with a new vocabulary of ornament.

Today, works of art on paper can be displayed without harm using modern conservation materials and ultra-violet protective glass. Drawings and watercolours by old and modern masters can be greatly enhanced when framed with historic sensitivity and with a suitably delicate response to the work.

1 Piedmontese c.1650 carved poplar and gilded frame with pierced and scrolling acanthus leaf ornament.

2 English c. 1865 gilded oak 'Rossetti' frame.

3 Bolognese c. 1650 carved and gilded frame with imbricated laurel leaf ornament bound by straps at the centres and corners. Italian c. 1660 bolection moulding frame of tortoishell on a gilded ground with ebony inner and outer mouldings.

4 French Louis XHI carved oak and gilded frame with guilloche ornament. French Louis XHI carved oak and decapé finished frame with laurel leaf ornament.

5 English c.i68o carved and silvered 'Leiy' panel frame. Dutch c. 1650 ebony frame with ripple mouldings bordering a frieze with applied ormolu floral ornament.