Framing of Rembrandt's Portrait of a white-haired man
When Portrait of a white-haired man came into the National Gallery of Victoria's collection in 1951, it had a nineteenth century classical revival frame.
Labels on
the reverse suggest this frame was on the painting at least as early
as 1930. It reflects the nineteenth century's taste for strong,
decorative, gilded frames where the frame is seen as an embellishment
of the painting.
Rembrandt's Portrait of a white-haired man arrived in a nineteenth century classical revival frame.
Portrait of a White Haired-Man was reframed in 1954 by the then Director of the National Gallery of Victoria, Daryl Lindsay. Lindsay reacted negatively to late nineteenth century taste and chose a complex historicism for the reframing of the Rembrandt.
The frame has stepped corners, applied ripple mouldings, stained timber and a gold sight edge.
More recent research suggests that elaborate frames such as this were not as common in seventeenth century Holland as previously thought. The frame was made in England by the London frame maker, Pollak.
Rembrandt's Portrait of a white-haired man was reframed in 1954.
For the exhibition Shell Presents Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact we looked again at the framing of Portrait of a white haired man.
Lindsay's frame had not aged well and the elaborate detail distracted from the painting. We looked for a replacement which reacted more accurately to historical precedent while responding to the pictorial needs of the painting.
The result is austere in comparison to the previous two. It is a simple, uniform, ebonised timber moulding based directly on a portrait frame from 1665.
It reflects a new sense of historical accuracy but at the same time asks us to reconsider the role of the frame in the presentation of the painting.
Rembrandt's Portrait of a white-haired man in its current frame.
Related information:
Portrait of a white-haired man
REMBRANDT Harmensz. van Rijn
Dutch 1606–69
Portrait of a white-haired man 1667
oil on canvas
108.9 x 92.7
Felton Bequest, 195l
2372-4
