AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

In the mid 1990’s, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, Canada, accepted a large donation of historic European picture frames from an anonymous collector. Over 1,500 frames, dating from the 16th to the early 20th century, arrived at the gallery in two batches, in 1994 and 1997. While some frames were unwrapped, catalogued and even briefly displayed in a special exhibition (Framing History: European Frames 15th - 19th century, 1995), the vast majority remained stored, concealed in their original shipping material until now.

The AGO’s conservation and curatorial departments had tried, with mixed success, to deal with the collection since its acquisition. In 2022, the AGO Frame Project was launched as an institutional initiative to develop a program to care for and use the frames in accordance with current standards of museum practice. The AGO hired Senior Frame Conservator Hubert Baija, recently retired from the Rijksmuseum, on a one year contract, as well as a frame conservation fellow, two dedicated art handlers, and a dedicated photographer. They worked with the AGO Senior Framer, curators, and registrars to finally unwrap, examine and document the collection.

Now in its second year, the AGO Frame Project aims to foster a supportive environment in which to understand and care for this vast collection, which represents over four hundred years of European frame history. Education and knowledge sharing has been a crucial part of this initiative, increasing appreciation and respect for the collection not only in the conservation department but also among curators, framers, collections experts, and other departments. A symposium on the history and conservation of frames in May, 2024, hosted at the AGO, will introduce this collection to the frame community and, we hope, open even more opportunities for exchange and collaboration.

Ultimately, the goal of the AGO Frame Project is to make this important collection more accessible for study and for lending. As custodians of this collection, the AGO is committed to the idea that pairing historic frames with appropriate artworks is an important aspect of their conservation, as it preserves their function. It is our hope that a digital database will lead to pairings of these frames with works of art at other galleries and museums as well as our own.

This paper describes the AGO Frame Project’s collaborative process, the surprises and opportunities we have encountered along the way, and what was revealed when we finally unwrapped the frames.