The former framing of Reynolds' Miss Susanna Gale posed a number of interesting questions. The castellated form, the hardware at the upper and lower edges and the cropping of approximately two inches of the image along the top and bottom edges all suggested the fitting was not a picture frame but some other form of interior architectural embellishment.
Research toward reframing the Reynolds began in 1998. The frame, in the Marratta style, fitted to the Portrait of Dr Markham, dated 1761, provided a potential model. Unless a patron negotiated a specific framing requirement, Reynolds would by default use frames in the Carlo Marratta style. Despite a number of Marratta style frames appearing on paintings in the 18th century collection at the NGV, this slight variant of the style was thought to offer a good solution to framing Miss Susanna Gale.
The Markham frame had a width of 4" which was scaled up to 6" for Miss Susanna Gale. The frame, entirely hand carved in jelutong and gilded with gold leaf, was made in London and fitted to the painting in 2002. The frame was made in four sections and re-assembled in Melbourne; this reflected a number of historic frames in the collection that break down for transport.