Heavy, antique, 19th century, Gothic Revival era, 4” wide, well-made, gilded picture frame with corner splines on the reverse. Compo (composition ornament) frame is not hand-carved. The decorative elements are (probably) plaster, although this is a wood picture frame and it’s quite heavy.

Overall frame measurements: approx. 21 1/8 x 24 3/8 inches. Rabbet measures approx. 13 3/4 x 17 1/8 inches. A 13” x 17” picture will fit because the rabbet is spacious. If you add a liner positioned correctly under the lip of the frame, the frame could (perhaps imperfectly) accommodate a 12 x 16” painting.

In my 25 years of ‘picking’ fine art and picture frames, I’ve never come across a frame like this one before. The corner ornaments are called ‘grotesques’. Depicted is a character, possibly anthropomorphic (as in part lion), with his tongue sticking out. This sort of figure is sometimes called the “Green Man”.

“The gargoyles and grotesques, like Egyptian hieroglyphs, represent a kind of language which could be read even by illiterate churchgoers. They represented the coarse humour of masons who got away with sculpting ridiculous figures for the clergy. They represented the demons expelled by exorcism”.

I think this picture frame will be an extra-special adornment on an Old Master architectural town/cityscape painting, portrait painting, etc., or make for a fabulous mirror.

This item needs restoration and it’s been repaired in the past. The one short side (to the right in my pictures) was split or broken off at some point. It looks like a piece of linen is glued inside the rabbet area there as part of the repair process used back then. There are pieces missing from the frame, existing pieces that are loose, dark or discolored areas (old touch-ups and worn off gilding), etc.

I’ll make a shipping box for this out of cardboard and also the frame will be bubble wrapped and sandwiched between cardboard, along with pieces of cardboard to serve as corner protectors. I’ll then use a couple more layers of bubble wrap, “Fragile” stickers, plenty of packing tape, etc.

To restore the frame, cleaning and a glue bath (wood glue mixed with water) could be done. Missing pieces + discolored areas (for whatever reason such as old inpaint and gilding worn off) that need to be gold-color again can then be taken care of. To recreate the pieces, you could use QuikWood, KwikWood, or similar epoxy putty and sculpt by hand or use plumber’s putty to make molds from intact areas and fill this with auto body filler. The frame could be regilded or coloring could be done with gold leaf Rub ‘N Buff, gold paint, etc., then toned to match with oil paints.

From the net: Gargoyles and grotesques were a hallmark of the Gothic period of architecture, which grew popular in Western Europe from the 12th to the late 15th centuries, and which was carried over well into the 20th century during the age of Gothic Revival marked by fascination with the Middle Ages. You will find gargoyles and grotesques in countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom.

They are architectural figures perching from buildings all over Western Europe. A great reference on this subject is Alex Woodcock’s Gargoyles and Grotesques, published by Shire Publications in 2011, and also “Gravely Gorgeous“, published online by the Cornell University Library.

There are many competing theories regarding the reason behind putting silly, bizarre, and frightening figures to decorate ecclesiastical buildings. If all that was needed was a weight-bearing structure or a waterspout, why carve them this way? Among the many theories, as outlined by Woodcock (pp. 15 to 19), were that they represented pagan gods to help ease the transition of previously pagan worshipers entering the Christian faith, they represented the transitional or liminal space of the church, where the human and divine spheres overlap, etc.

The most enduring, however, is the theory that they were designed to drive away or repel evil spirits (Woodcock, p. 19), making them protectors of the buildings they decorate. The more shocking and bizarre the sculpture, the better; by drawing attention to itself, it “diverted any malicious intent” away from the rest of the structure.