FAMAG 2010.16
British twentieth-century deep scotia frame with fillet at top edge, wide shallow scotia and step to sight; finished with light donkey grey paint, darker top edge and white sight edge; supplied by Paul Mitchell Limited. (r)
About this work
view without frame
Bickford, Michael (born 1939): Point on the river Fal, 2009, signed, oil on panel, 30 x 40.5 cms.
More information about the frame
This is a copy of a simple twentieth-century profile, contemporary with the style of the painting, and coloured to act as a foil to the broad swathes of teal-blue sea and sky. The width of the frame and its lack of decoration give authority and presence to a relatively small painting, and the mitres ? slightly shaped by the hollow of the moulding ? lead the eye into the landscape, enhancing the sense of depth and aerial perspective. The off-white sight edge and darker top edge help to define the work of art as a whole, emphasising the boundary of the painting, and highlighting it against the wall where it hangs. Coloured wooden frames were used by many artists during the twentieth century to assert their contemporary style, as against the gilded frames of earlier generations.