NEW YORK, NY.- Eli Wilner & Company recently completed the restoration of an important period frame for the Cleveland Museum of Art. Curator Mark Cole approached Wilner with images of the period frame on Gilbert Stuart’s Portrait of Elizabeth Beltzhoover Mason, circa 1803-1805. The Wilner team identified the frame as an English or early American “Carlo Maratta” style frame, with an acanthus leaf-and-shield ornament applied in a simple cove. This frame style was popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It was determined that the frame was both appropriate to the painting and likely to be the original, as the museum’s records indicated that the frame had been with the painting for at least a century. Having established the quality and importance of the frame, it was decided that extensive restoration would be appropriate.

At some point in the frame’s history, it had apparently undergone at least one major restoration effort, and perhaps more. Numerous sections of the applied ornament had been replaced with a newer design, that was a poor match in scale, design, and color to the intact original ornament. The frame had also accumulated smoke and other dirt, obscuring its gilded surface. To permit the painting to remain on public view during the time that the frame was being restored in New York City, another suitable period frame from the Wilner collection was lent to the museum.

The Wilner team began the restoration by carefully removing all of the ornament from the cove, and then separately cleaning the cove section and the ornament, using a gentle process. Areas of loose gesso were stabilized or reconstructed, and open miters were filled and strengthened. The non-original ornament was disposed of, and the warped wooden substrate that had supported the ornament was removed. Loose sections of ornament were re-adhered, and other cracks and losses were repaired. A precise casting was made from the restored ornament, so that the non-original elements could be replaced seamlessly. The ornament and the cove section were then gilded separately, and patinated to blend with the surrounding intact surface. A new wooden substrate was then affixed to the back of the ornament and it was re-applied in the cove. With the ornament in place, its miters were filled and carved so that they resolved appropriately.

The restored frame was returned to the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it was reunited with the portrait, and returned to the public galleries.