Antique French Picture Frames
Find on this page antique French picture frames for sale. We cover several styles and eras. See French style frames from Louis XIV up to Napoleon the III. They are custom reproductions: you can buy them with the specific size that you want.
Antique French frames are very popular in the world of collectors. Indeed, France, since the early 1600s, played a significant role in the field of furniture. Check out our collection of 18th, and 19th century French frames available with different finishes.
French style picture frames
The spirit of the France revolution reached Italy consolidating the relations between the two countries. Probably due to that historical event, Italian artistic culture started looking after the new republic. From the early 1800s, there have been in Italy a significant production of French style picture frames. In fact, North Italian Empire frames aren’t that different from French models.
After the first Napoleon time of governance, when the Empire style slowly faded away, other artistic elements were picked from the past. Craftsmen realized, especially in North Italy, a new eclectic form of art. In other words, master carvers built their models looking after Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical French art.
Custom French frames
We realize reproductions of antique French frames in any size. To manufacture a frame, we first create a thin wood mat that would fit the painting. From that point, we start to create the complexity of the French structure frames. They’ve got those typical curves all around the sides full of decorations.
The curved shapes of antique French picture frames don’t favor bar production. Thus, the way to speed up the manufacturing process is to rely on standard sizes. Unfortunately, paintings not always fit with standard size frames.
More often, we use the traditional technique of realizing custom frames. They’re for sure more expensive but in the end, the work comes out better done.
French style picture frames for 1900s paintings
Nowadays, in Italy, we keep on framing modern masterpieces with French style frames. Despite they don’t belong to the same era, it looks like collectors like the contrast. In fact, modern paintings are usually sober as they come from the rationalism of the 1900s. On the other hand, the richness of the antique French frames with their complex decorations stands out.
Accordingly, customers look for contrast to add value to modern art. With the use of white wood mats, the informal canvases light up. In the last few years, we often framed significant painters of the 1900s. For instance, we framed Pablo Picasso, Giorgio Morandi, and Lucio Fontana respectively with our French style frames cod. 029, cod. 036, and cod. 037.