Antique Frames

Above: Frits Lugt’s sitting room in his Amsterdam house, c. 1911-1916
Below: Exhibition Rembrandt and his School, Institut Néerlandais, 1957

Frits Lugt used to keep most of his drawings in albums and portfolios, in the eighteenth-century manner. A small number were hung in the rooms of his various houses, as can be seen in the archive photographs. The drawings were presented in the antique frames of which he was a keen collector. He was of the opinion that genuine frames in appropriate styles were indispensable to the full appreciation of works of art.

In 1957 he organised, at the recently-established Institut Néerlandais in Paris, his first exhibition of drawings by Rembrandt and his school, in antique frames.

Above: Frits Lugt’s sitting room in his Amsterdam house, c. 1911-1916
Below: Exhibition Rembrandt and his School, Institut Néerlandais, 1957
Frame of the type known as a cassetta, ebony, Netherlands, seventeenth-century, inv. 2830 framing a drawing by Rembrandt,
The grain mill “De Bok” on the bulwark « Het Blauwhoofd »,
pen and brown ink, brown wash
inv. 5174

In 2011, the exhibition Rembrandt and his Circle offered the chance to display the Fondation Custodia’s drawings in antique frames once again (see the publication Framing Rembrandt and his Circle).

Frame of the type known as a cassetta, ebony, Netherlands, seventeenth-century, inv. 2830 framing a drawing by Rembrandt,
The grain mill “De Bok” on the bulwark « Het Blauwhoofd »,
pen and brown ink, brown wash
inv. 5174
Tabernacle frame, sixteenth-century, France or Italy, of the François Clouet type
Darkened wood and gilding, turned columns, marble and mother-of-pearl
inv. 759

Today, the collection comprises around 700 frames (not in permanent use) of different periods, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries and from various European countries. This collection is currently divided in three principal groups, corresponding to the schools to which the drawings belong: Italian, French and Low Countries frames. The Italian frames in the Frits Lugt collection are particularly remarkable.

Tabernacle frame, sixteenth-century, France or Italy, of the François Clouet type
Darkened wood and gilding, turned columns, marble and mother-of-pearl
inv. 759
Arrangement of the frame’s storage

One of the larger projects carried out since 2010 was the reorganisation of the antique frame storage, now completed (see E-newsletter n° 6, January 2014, p. 15). This followed the evaluation of the state of conservation of the whole collection and its inventory in a database. The new presentation of the frames on racks and in drawers makes access easy.

Arrangement of the frame’s storage