The frame on Reynolds Lady Frances Finch is hand carved and gilded taking the form of pierced and scrolled English Rococo frames from the middle of the eighteenth century.
It is likely the frame pre-dates the painting, though it has not been altered to fit suggesting a standardised relationship between the dimensions of the painting and the frame.
The frame is carved in a soft wood using a layered construction and mitred corners which are cross-splined on the reverse. The form of the frame is effectively all one piece, there is no back frame in the construction, giving a sculptural quality to the carving. The open spaces are hollowed out on the reverse, increasing the delicacy of the pattern. The gilding is on a yellow bole over a white ground.
It is likely to be the original presentation of the painting though to date there is no documentary evidence to that effect.
Reynolds was documented as using the Carlo Maratta frame as a default presentation of his paintings unless a patron requested, or later supplied, a frame of their own choosing.
There are three frames in this form in the collection. This one and those on Gainsborough’s Sea piece (1840-4) and Devis’s Clavey Family (E1-1976).
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2015.