1. The Large Blue Horses
By Franz Marc, 1911
A reframing project

2. A new “old” frame
To commemorate the painting’s acquisition, Curator
Joan Rothfuss wanted something that resembled the
frame as pictured in these archive photos:

3. The current frame was narrow gold:

4. Realizing I couldn’t cut the cove with
the equipment at hand, I devised a
plan to create the frame from part of a
stock architectural moulding combined
with parts I milled in-house.

5. I sourced a local moulding and sketched a plan:

6. The frame would be built from six sections, plus a liner.
The painting needed to be glazed for protection, and
the product chosen was Tru Vue Optium Museum
Acrylic, a coated, reduced reflection product.
The glazing would fit between the frame and liner to
create space.
The depth of the frame was designed around the liner
to be sure there was enough room for the painting to
be comfortable.

7. I cut the coved section I needed from the crown moulding.

8. Then I milled the other parts.

9. Here’s a view of the end, showing how the parts come together.

10. After the parts were glued together, I then cut the mitres.

11. The corners were joined and the seams filled.

12. Lots of sanding, and a primer coat.

13. The final details and the first finish coat.

14. The painting was fit into the liner using offsets, with
Volara to protect the surface and felt to protect the sides..

15. I ended up re-finishing three times to
get the color to work in the gallery,
using details from the painting as
reference.