Frames in Focus: Sansovino Frames
It seemed odd at
first to walk into a gallery mainly of frames with only a couple having
pictures in them. However it was almost like an art installation in its own
right with the frames forming a lovely pattern against the darkly painted
walls.
The type of frame
takes its name from the architect Jacapo Sansovino however there seems no
connection between the frames and him other than their style. They are known
for overlapping and broken scroll designs, features from classical
architecture, fruit, masques and cherubs. The earlier ones tend to be more
architectural and the later ones more florid. The notes pointed out that a
frame creates a stage setting for a picture and also talked about the
incongruity of having pictures on the virgin and child in frames with bare
breasted women on!
I loved some with
great swags of flowers and fruit with a green man type face at the bottom. It
was hard to imagine a picture in this and yet when you looked at one hung with
a picture your eye still looked and read the picture not the frame! However the
whole thing left me wondering if there was some Ikea type place that 16th
century gentlemen went to buy the frames for their purchases? I wanted to know
more about who made then and how they were sold.
Review
Telegraph
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