PROGRAM IV. 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY In recognition of the deep history and culture of the Island of Lutruwita | Tasmania and Nipaluna | Hobart, we acknowledge the Muwinina people, the traditional owners of the Land upon which we gather for the symposium. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Tasmanian Aboriginal Communities; all of whom have survived invasion and dispossession, and continue to maintain their identity and culture THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS GOLD SPONSOR SILVER SPONSOR BRONZE SPONSORS ASSOCIATE SPONSOR 2. 3. ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM Our 2026 Hobart FRAME Symposium builds on the momentum of two earlier international symposia organised with the support of the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM). The first, AICCM – FRAME: Concept, History and Conservation, was convened in Melbourne in 2016 by a committee chaired by Louise Bradley and hosted by the National Gallery of Victoria. The second symposium, held in Sydney in 2019 under the same title, was organised by a committee led by Barbara Dabrowa, Senior Conservator – Frames, and hosted by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The third symposium, FRAME: Concept, History & Conservation, takes place in Hobart in 2026, organised by a committee headed by frame researcher Anita Gowers and supported by the University of Tasmania. The FRAME Symposium series has established itself as the premier Southern Hemisphere forum for advancing research, conservation, and historical scholarship on picture frames. It brings together curators, conservators, frame makers, historians, and industry specialists in an international exchange of knowledge on frame design, materials, technology, and conservation techniques. Through keynote presentations and collaborative discussions, the symposium strengthens professional networks while deepening our scholarly and practical understanding of frames as both decorative arts objects and integral components of cultural heritage. SYMPOSIUM ORGANISING COMMIT TEE The 2026 Hobart FRAME Symposium is guided by a committee of four specialists who collectively bring decades of expertise in frame conservation, research, and museum practice. The committee includes Louise Bradley, Barbara Dabrowa, Anita Gowers and Dr Malgorzata Sawicki. This experienced team has shaped a program that addresses contemporary challenges in frame conservation while advancing historical scholarship and fostering international collaboration. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The 2026 Hobart FRAME Symposium Organising Committee warmly acknowledges the program committee, contributors, volunteers and partners whose collaborative work, intellectual generosity and commitment to knowledge exchange shaped this symposium. Special thanks are extended to Dr Svenja Kratz, Dr Phillip Blacklow, Caine Chennatt, Jose Vicente Garcia Cesar and Cameron Mckenzie for their valued support in the development and delivery of this symposium within the FRAME: Concept, History & Conservation series. 4. 5. SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM Studio Theatre – Hedberg Day 1 Monday 16 February 2026 8:15 AM - 9:00 AM Registration 9:00 AM - 9:10 AM Acknowledgement of Country Welcome to Symposium Caine Chennatt, University Librarian and Curatorial Director, University of Tasmania Symposium Overview Anita Gowers 9:10 AM - 10:20 AM Opening Keynote Address The collection of antique frames and the framing policy at the Louvre: “an extremely delicate balance between presence and effacement” (Georg Simmel) Dr. Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau Chief Curator, Spanish and Portuguese Painting (16th19th centuries), Frame Collection Beistegui and Lyon Collections Department of Paintings, Musée du Louvre, Paris 10:20 AM - 10:40 AM Morning Tea Session 1 Journeys Through Frame History and Scholarship: Context, Vision, and the Artist’s Legacy Chair: Dr Malgorzata Sawicki 10:40 AM - 10:50 AM Focus on Frames Louise Bradley, Conservation framer, private practice. 10:50 AM - 11:10 AM Italian Frames on Post-Byzantine Icons from the Collection of the Benaki Museum (recorded) Mara Verykokou, Curator, Byzantine and PostByzantine Collection, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece 6. 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM Examination and Consideration of an Important Stanford White American Frame (recorded) Cynthia Moyer, Associate Conservator, Department of Paintings Conservation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA. Suzanne Smeaton, Frame historian and former Gallery Director of Eli Wilner & Co, New York City, USA 11:30 AM - 11:50AM Framing the Avant-Garde: How Folk and NonWestern Art Inspired Early 20th-Century Picture Frames Marei Döhring, PhD Candidate and independent researcher 11:50AM - 12:00PM Q&A Session 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM Conserving Eleanor A documentary of the conservation of the artwork and frame-making for the Dangerously modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940 exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM Lunch Break Session 2 The Art of Preservation: Conservation Framing and Glazing Chair: Barbara Dabrowa 1.30 PM - 1:50 PM Size really does matter Dr. Jennifer Booth, Director of Fine Art Market, Tru Vue Inc. 1.50 PM - 2:10 PM Hanging in the Balance: Display Culture in the Nineteenth-century Anita Gowers, PhD Candidate, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia 2:10 PM - 2:30 PM Glazing at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts Louise Bradley, Conservation framer, private practice, Melbourne, Australia 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM Q&A Session 2:45 PM - 3:00 PM Afternoon Tea Break 7. 3:00 PM - 4:50 PM Visit to Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts 4:50 PM Day 1 Close 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Welcome Reception, Government House **Prior registration essential** Day 2 Tuesday 17 February 2026 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM Registration & Morning Coffee 9:00 AM - 9:10 AM Day 2 Welcome & Overview Dr Malgorzata Sawicki 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM Keynote Address and Discussion ‘That French cackling frame I hated so much’. Frames and framing at the Rijksmuseum, 18002025: evolving ways of seeing Josephina de Fouw MA Curator of 18th-century Painting and Frames Department of Painting, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Session 3 From Damage to Dialogue: Picture Frame Functions and Significance Chair: Louise Bradley 10:10 AM - 10:30 AM The Frame as an Integral Part of the Painting: Conservation Challenges of Three Tasmanian Gilded Frames Across Three Centuries Joanna Lang, Joanna Lang Studio - Art & Conservation 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM Oh, what a Life. An exploration of frame history, evolving tastes and uses, and conservation ethics, through the conservation treatment of a 17thcentury British Auricular frame in the National Portrait Gallery, London Stephanie Carlton, Frame Conservator, Freelance, UK 10:50 AM - 11:00 AM Q&A Session 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM Morning Tea 8. Session 4 The Conservation of Picture Frames: Challenges and Creative Solutions Chair: Holly Jackson-McGowan 11:20 AM - 11:50 AM Frame Conservation – Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Barbara Dabrowa, Senior Frames Conservator, AGNSW Mark Searle, Frames Conservator, AGNSW Tom Langlands, Reproduction Frame Maker, AGNSW 11:50 AM - 12:10 PM Framing the Colony of Brisbane: The 19th-Century Brisbane Picture Framing Industry Robert Zilli, Conservation framer, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia 12:10 PM - 12:30 PM How the use of the Picture Frame Archive informs framing decisions Michael Gregory, Managing Director, Arnold Wiggins, London, UK 12.30 PM - 12:50 PM Images of frames in paintings from The National Museum in Warsaw (Poland) as a source of historical information about framing styles (recorded) Monika Rdzanek-Solecka, National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland 12.50 PM - 1:05 PM Q&A Session 1:05 PM - 1:50 PM Lunch Break 1.50 PM - 3:10 PM Tour Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery 3.10 PM - 4:30 PM Tour Parliament House 4:30 PM Day 2 Close 6:30 PM Symposium Dinner **Prior registration essential** Rockwell Bar & Grill, 89 Salamanca Pl, Battery Point 9. Day 3 Wednesday 18 February 2026 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM Registration & Morning Coffee 9:00 AM - 9:10 AM Day 3 Welcome & Recap Louise Bradley 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM Keynote Address Decision-Making in Gilded Wood Conservation: A Critical Framework for Evaluating Re-gilding, Ingilding, and In-painting Dr Malgorzata Sawicki FIIC, Professional Consultant in Gilded Wood Conservation, former Head of Frames Conservation, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Session 5 Ornament in Focus: Novel Approach to Loss Compensation Chair: Barbara Dabrowa 10:10 AM - 10:30 AM Reframing Ornament: A Close Inspection of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Picture Frames with Smartphone-Based Photogrammetry Isabella Baker, Graduate Student, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM Positive and negative castings for gilding parts replacement in areas with limited accessibility (recorded) Yukiko Barrow, Senior Furniture and Related Objects Conservator, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK 10:50 AM - 11:00 AM Q&A Session 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM Morning Tea Session 6 Investigating New Materials and Methods: Innovations in Conservation Treatments Chair: Dr. Malgorzata Sawicki 11:20 AM - 11:40 AM A Monumental Frame and Treatment: The Return of the Frame to The Pilgrim Fathers Holly McGowan-Jackson, Senior Conservator of Frames & Furniture, The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, Australia 10. 11:40 AM - 12:00 PM Framing Tragedy: Frame Conservation and Tradition in the Treatment of George Romney’s ‘Mrs Yates as the Tragic Muse’ Robert Zilli, Conservation Framer, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Australia 12:00 PM - 12:20 PM Insights into Developing Organic Solvent Gels of Partially Hydrolyzed Poly (vinyl acetate) and Boron-based Crosslinkers for Cleaning Gilded Picture Frames Genevieve Tobin, Independent Conservator, specialising in Gilded Decorative Wood & Paintings 12.20 PM - 12:45 PM Q&A Session 12:45 PM - 1:30 PM Lunch Break Session 7 Behind the Border: Frame Conservation Problems, Technology, and Research Chair: Barbara Dabrowa 1.30 PM - 2:10 PM Lightning Talks 1. The Reframing of Portrait George IV by Sir Thomas Lawrence, The Wallace Collection, London – Michael Gregory, Managing Director, Arnold Wiggins, UK. 2. Carving in Bali. Edmond Capon Fellowship, October, 2025 – Tom Langlands, Reproduction Frame Maker, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 3. Exploring Reverse Carving to make Frame Ornament Moulds – Louise Bradley, Conservation framer, private practice 4. The Remit of the Easel Painting Conservator in Frame Conservation within the Conservation Departments of regional UK Museums and Galleries Today: An Exploration of Contemporary Attitudes and Working Practices (recorded) – Louisa Stark, Painting Conservation Intern, Fine Art Restoration Company, UK 11. 1.30 PM - 2:10 PM 5. Repairing a Veneer Surface of an 1830s Huon Pine Frame: A Maker's Perspective – Dr Phillip Blacklow, Furniture maker and artisan, Anita Gowers, PhD candidate 6. Replicating a Bronze Powder Mount – Louise Bradley, Conservation framer, private practice. 2:10 PM - 2:25 PM Panel Discussion – Lightening Talks 2:25 PM - 2:45 PM Afternoon Tea Break Session 8 Framing the Future: Reflections and Pathways Forward. Chair: Louise Bradley 2:45 PM - 3:15 PM Featured interview – Michael Varcoe-Cocks, Associate Director, Conservation, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia 3:15 PM - 3:45 PM Panel Discussion – State of frames, next steps 3:45 PM - 4:00 PM Closing Remarks & Symposium Wrap-up Anita Gowers 4:00 PM Symposium Close 12. PROGRAM ABSTRACTS Day 1 Monday 16 February 2026 Opening Keynote Dr. Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau The collection of antique frames and the framing policy at the Louvre: “an extremely delicate balance between presence and effacement” (Georg Simmel) The Musée du Louvre preserves a major collection of more than 9000 antique frames, remarkable not only by its extent but also by its variety. French and Italian frames, dating from the 15th century to the 19th century, are hung in the galleries and in the museum reserves, next to Dutch, Flemish, Spanish and British pieces, in a very interesting diversity of techniques and styles. Among this collection, around 3000 empty frames have recently been studied following their transfer to new external storage spaces in the Louvre Conservation Centre in Liévin, in northern France.The unusually high number of frames in reserve is partly due to the long history of the Louvre and the incessant reframing of the paintings since the opening of the museum in 1793. It is also the result of the ambitious policy of the Painting Department, which actively acquired antique frames during the 20th century, to improve the presentation of the paintings in the galleries and to gather a repertory of techniques and styles for European frames. Reflecting on Georg Simmels’ conception of framing as “an extremely delicate balance between presence and effacement”, this key-note paper addresses dilemmas encountered in terms of conservation and choices of framing. The way this ongoing work is shared with the visitors of the museum, and the changes in the status of frames, from utilitarian decorative objects to patrimonial works of art, is also discussed. Session 1: Journeys Through Frame History and Scholarship: Context, Vision, and the Artist’s Legacy Louise Bradley Frames in Focus The interest in frames and frame conservation has increased worldwide. In this talk I will cover the progress that has been made in Australia, with the support of AICCM, to increase interest in frame rsearch, frame conservation, and frame preservation. 13. This focus on frames grew from newsletters, to workshops, to single day symposia, and to the creation of the dedicated triennial, (but pandemic interrupted), frame symposium, AICCM – FRAME: Concept, History and Conservation. In this short talk I will describe the path that lead to the establishment of the AICCM international frame symposium. In closing we will announcement the location and date for the 2025 symposium. Mara Verykokou Italian Frames on Post-Byzantine Icons. From the Collection of the Benaki Museum The Benaki Museum collection of icons features two types of frames: detachable and attached. This presentation will focus on detachable frames, presenting just 15 out of a plethora of examples. From El Greco’s Adoration of the Magi to Theodoros Poulakis’s In Thee Rejoice..., the variety of frames includes cassetta, tabernacle, Baroque, and Sansovino types. Detachable frames present particular interest with regards to the configuration of the icon in relation to its chosen frame. Beyond issues of iconography or style of the icons, the presentation will focus on specific questions on Post-Byzantine icon frames. Were frames integral, original parts of the icons or were they later additions by the icon owners? Since some of the icons are displayed without their original frame, how does the perception of the public change in the presence or absence of the frame? In the light of new approaches and information concerning the framing of icons, should scholars and curators reconsider the ways icons are displayed? Cynthia Moyer, Suzanne Smeaton Examination and Consideration of an Important Stanford White American Frame In 2023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired a framed portrait of Bessie Springs Smith White (1862-1950), the wife of Stanford White (1853-1906), by Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851- 1938), Acc.# 2023.479. White was an acclaimed architect in the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White, as well as a dedicated frame designer and a close friend of the artist. This unique and original frame on this small, intimate portrait is distinctive for its lace-like pierced work. It is fabricated using an innovative method which we in the department of Paintings Conservation discovered examining the frame using x-radiography. Our colleague, Tess Graafland, now at The Rijksmuseum, used this analytical technique during her fellowship in 2015-2016 while studying several of the frames of Stanford White. She presented on them in 2016 at AIC Wooden Artifacts Group. This non-invasive method of examination for frames can be very illuminating regarding structural methodology and materials use. Further examination of the surface using stereo microscopy helps determine original gilding layers and provide a condition assessment. White maintained strong relationships with his frame makers as indicated in his correspondence with his fabricators and clients. Tess drew from his archive housed in 14. The Avery Library at Columbia University. As co-author of this presentation our colleague and renowned frame scholar, Suzanne Smeaton, has extensively studied and published on White and brings further insight into those collaborations and history. She also brings comparable examples of this fabrication technique to light and provides an art historical perspective to White Marei Döhring Framing the Avant-Garde: How Folk and Non-Western Art Inspired Early 20thCentury Picture Frames In the 19th and early 20th centuries, lavish, ornate gilt frames were closely associated with academic art and bourgeois taste. Highly prestigious and symbolically charged, these frames, however, increasingly conflicted with the evolving artistic expressions, beliefs, and financial and practical realities of avantgarde artists. In their art production, avant-garde artists drew inspiration from a wide array of visual sources to challenge and transcend traditional academic conventions. They engaged with works from diverse historical European periods and non-Western societies, including Benin bronzes, Japanese prints, Russian folk art and icons, medieval German woodcuts, and Bavarian religious glass paintings. Despite their diversity, these objects shared a common trait: a perceived authenticity and expressive quality that stood in stark contrast to the artificiality of academic art. While the influence of folk and non-Western art on early 20th-century painting is well documented, its impact on picture frames remains largely unexplored. This paper examines how avant-garde artists drew inspiration from such sources to create highly innovative frames. With their vibrant colours, minimal mouldings, and rough carvings, these designs reflected discourses on Material Truth, a renewed appreciation for craftsmanship amid industrialization, and a deliberate move away from conventional ornamentation, gilding,and the West’s historical ‘chromophobia.’ Session 2: The art of Preservation: Conservation framing and glazing Dr. Jennifer Booth Size really does matter If you ask someone in the art world to pick a popular trend, one could safely expect size to be mentioned. From large, to oversize, to purely monumental, over the past two decades it seemed like there were no limitations on how big artists were going to go. Despite recent market shifts showing a renewed appreciation of smaller works, perhaps in part due to the realities of storing, shipping, and caring, for larger pieces, 15. artists continue to create large artworks. Many collections, both private and public, already house examples providing unique challenges for their conservators and framers. When making framing decisions for works of scale, each component can have a dramatic impact on the success of the overall frame package. Glazing is no exception. Indeed, when the concept behind some larger works is to immerse oneself fully in the artwork, it could be argued that the material through which you observe the artwork is the most important. Covering the full scope of this subject from the practical aspects of material selection, through to the more philosophical balancing of conservation concerns with aesthetic demands, this presentation will also include guidelines for handling, cutting, and sourcing glazing materials for oversized works. Glass and acrylic options will be compared, and recommendations for appropriate thickness and frame construction given. This will be supported by real-world examples demonstrating how major institutions and independent framers have successfully navigated these complex choices. We will even attempt to answer the question, should you really glaze a Rothko…? Anita Gowers Hanging in the Balance: Display culture in the nineteenth-century The picture frame served as an integral component of the nineteenth-century domestic interior, mediating between private consumption and public display cultures. By mid-century, middle-class British homes had transformed into miniature picture galleries, their walls dense with oils, watercolours, engravings, chromolithographs, and photomechanical autotypes. Mass production, technological innovations in image reproduction, and reduced costs enabled ordinary middle-class households to acquire and display pictures previously accessible only to elite collectors. Visual culture that had been the exclusive preserve of the upper classes now permeated a significantly broader social stratum. The frame became essential to navigating this proliferation, organizing visual abundance while signaling taste, status, and cultural aspiration to household visitors. Rather than treating frames as autonomous art objects, this socio-historical approach investigates them within the spatial, material, and social systems that gave them meaning. Drawing from household manuals, advice literature, and contemporary criticism - from Leigh Hunt's 1834 exhortation to "put up a picture in your room" to Charles Eastlake's prescriptive chapter on "Wall Furniture" - the research reveals how frames functioned as vehicles for enforcing aesthetic judgement and social differentiation. Frames in the domestic interior articulated crucial spatial distinctions—between public reception rooms and private family quarters, between formal display and informal inhabitation. Through their materiality, ornamental vocabulary, and strategic 16. placement, frames connected individual households to transnational networks of taste, trade, and visual culture. Understanding frames within domestic contexts reveals a richer, more complex history than traditional museum-focused methodologies permit, one in which objects actively shaped social relations and cultural meaning-making in everyday life. Louise Bradley Glazing at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts The Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts is a collection of Australian national significance that includes Tasmanian colonial paintings, photographs, rare books, manuscripts, English and European decorative arts and furniture. The collection is a special collection of the State Library and Archives of Tasmania, where a portion of the collection is on display in period rooms and galleries opening off to the right side of the library reception desk. The Allport is probably the best-kept secret in Hobart. To create a better microclimate, and to protect from potential damage to paintings on display in the period rooms, curator Caitlin Sutton and conservator Stephanie McDonald sought funding for a long-term project to glaze the paintings with Optium Museum acrylic. The glazing of paintings is a contentious issue within the museum industry, with some quite opposed to it, some cautiously in support. For the Allport glazing of the works provides necessary protection. In this presentation I will discuss my on-location work on this project, how frames were modified in as minimal a way as possible, to add glazing, spacers, and backing boards for the paintings. I will also discuss some of the artists and the frames in the collection. Day 2 Tuesday 17 February 2026 Keynote Josephina de Fouw ‘That French cackling frame I hated so much’. Frames and framing at the Rijksmuseum, 1800-2025: evolving ways of seeing Woman Reading a Letter (c. 1663), painted by Johannes Vermeer, is one of the most beloved paintings in the Rijksmuseum. The painting has a permanent place in the Gallery of Honor, where it forms a familiar image in its richly decorated French Régence frame. However, this has not always been the case. Over the past 175 years, Woman Reading a Letter has changed frames at least four times. The framing history of the Vermeer reflects how our view of the painting and, in a broader sense, ideas about the presentation of old masters have evolved. 17. The Rijksmuseum has a long tradition of caring for picture frames. Almost since the museum was founded in 1800, pride has been taken in presenting paintings in a suitable frame. But what is a suitable frame? Which considerations carry the most weight? And who makes this choice? Over time, different views and preferences have succeeded one another, with aesthetic considerations and historical perspectives alternating. The pioneering research by Van Thiel and De Bruyn Kops, resulting in the exhibition Framing in the Golden Age (1986), had a major influence. Based on their study, 17th century paintings were united with their original frames and others have been given period frames made after historical examples. Over the past 30 years, the preservation of the frame collection has been professionalized. In 2020, frames were further elevated by appointing a frame curator alongside the frame conservators. This emancipation of the frames collection paved the way for developing new perspectives. The team has started collecting historical frames for paintings and is reusing the frames already in the collection more intensely. This keynote speech will reflect on this change of course in the context of the museum's history and looks ahead to the wishes and ambitions for the future. Session 3: From Damage to Dialogue: Picture Frame Functions and Significance Joanna Lang The Frame as an Integral Part of the Painting: Conservation Challenges of Three Tasmanian Gilded Frames Across Three Centuries On the examples of my recent conservation treatments of three gilded frames from Tasmanian collections – originating from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries – I would like to briefly present conservation works itself, as well as elaborate on the following theses: 1. The frame, in the historical understanding, was an important part of the artwork – it protected the painting and at the same time emphasized its aesthetic values. A special place was held by richly gilded frames of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The continuation of this approach can also be seen in the work of the contemporary artist David Boyd, The Crown II, oil on canvas, in a water-gilded frame 2. However time-consuming frame conservation may be, we should follow the main conservation principle of preserving the wholeness and integrity of the artwork. An example is The Portrait of Archdeacon Francis Hales (1822–1900) from Holy Trinity Church, Launceston collection. 3. By studying frames we can learn much and confirm our knowledge about the painting itself – its provenance, dating, and placement within a larger collection or context. 18. An example is an unsigned but outstanding eighteenth-century oil painting: Landscape with Fishermen and girl, from the French artistic circle, in its classically water-gilded frame over a red bole ground. These three examples show that the frame should not be treated as a secondary element, but as a component that is historically and aesthetically inseparable from the painting. Stephanie Carlton Oh what a Life. An exploration of frame history, evolving tastes and uses, and conservation ethics, through the conservation treatment of a 17th- century British Auricular frame in the National Portrait Gallery, London. When is the frame considered too important in its own right to be adapted? What can be done when the frame no longer fits but belongs with the painting? Is it appropriate to make structural changes to an historic object? These are matters raised and questioned in many private and public collections and there is rarely a clear and definitive answer. This paper explores these questions starting with the treatment of the frame for William Wissing’s portrait of Mary of Modena. It was purchased specifically for the painting in the 1960s, and has undergone multiple changes, both at that time to house the painting, and throughout is earlier life. The recent treatment focused on stabilising and consolidating the substrate, addressing insect damage and a major break through the top member, as well as devising suitable materials and methods for reattaching the detached section. During the process, cross-sections and visual examination of the frame structure identified dimensional and surface alterations from the past. These observations illustrate how frames may have been altered and demonstrate the shifting roles and appearances of such objects in collections. Such changes raise ethical considerations regarding the use and adaption of historic frames, including the potential to use them in new contexts while maintaining their integrity as individual objects. Session 4: The Conservation of Picture Frames: Challenges and Creative Solutions Barbara Dabrowa, Mark Searle, Tom Langlands Frame Conservation - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Frame Conservation forms an important part of the Conservation Department of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and includes two conservators and one reproduction frame maker. The works in the gallery collection require the attention of experienced professionals with knowledge of the collection of oil paintings, works on paper, and their frames, 19. most of them valuable, and historically significant pieces of their own accord. The frames team works collaboratively on every project and over the years has developed a very strong reputation in the specialisation of frame conservation at the AGNSW. Following consultation with curators as well as assessments of the frames for the purposes of benefactor projects, the team conducts research and discusses full or preventive conservation treatments and designs of new frames while continuing treatments, exhibitions, loans travel, and work scheduling. This paper aims to present the diversity of the Frame Conservation projects, recently completed, including full treatments and reproduction frame making, which were equally challenging and interesting. Repeatedly the frames in the gallery’s collection were painted over with brass-based bronze overpaint entirely covering the original gilded surface and all damages such as dents, scratches, losses and missing ornamentation. Their surfaces looked dark, dull and artificial, diminishing the aesthetic of the paintings which meant they often needed urgent attention Subsequently, the research, design and making of reproduction period frames in the historically appropriate style will be presented in this paper. It is an important part of our work as many paintings and works on paper purchased in unoriginal frames are not appropriate for the style of the artworks. Robert Zilli Framing the Colony of Brisbane: The 19th-Century Brisbane Picture Framing Industry This paper explores the evolution of Brisbane’s 19th-century picture-framing trade and its relationship with local artists, focusing on the artist Anthony Alder (1838– 1915) and framemaker A.L. Hambleton. Drawing on recent research surrounding Alder’s painting Red-tailed Black Cockatoos (c. 1895), this study examines how framing aesthetics, materials and workshop practices informed artistic production and presentation in colonial Queensland. Alder’s ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’, 1895, acquired in 2014 entered the QAGOMA Collection retaining only its original slip and without a picture frame, prompting research into suitable styles of historically accurate picture frames. This process illuminated stylistic parallels with frames supplied by Hambleton, whose Brisbane workshop (est. 1889) provided gilt and ornamented mouldings to Alder and other prominent Brisbane artists.Through analysis of surviving frames, trade directories, and archival advertising, this study reconstructs the professional networks that linked framers and artists, contextualising their choices within broader imperial and aesthetic trends. It argues that these collaborations shaped not only the presentation but also the perceived cultural value of Queensland art. This paper concludes by considering how historical insights into workshop practice and supply chains inform present-day art museum framing decisions, highlighting the importance of reconstructing local framing histories in understanding Australia’s colonial visual culture. 20. Michael Gregory How the use of the Picture Frame Archive informs framing decisions. The paper will examine how the Wiggins Frames & Framing Archive, formed over many years of frame surveys carried out in museums and collections, is used to identify the importance of particular framings and inform frame restoration. Specific examples will be examined e.g. the restoration of picture frames on paintings by Canaletto, Detroit Institute of Arts and George Stubbs, Yale Center for British Art. Both frames had been stripped of their gilding to the wood. Through archival research the importance of both frames as being original to the paintings was recognised. Most paintings are not in their original, or first frame, of the date and geographical origin of the painting, but in subsequent ‘collectors’ frames that reflect their taste. The picture frame, an under researched area of the decorative arts, is therefore an important visual record of the provenance of a painting. In the museum context paintings are normally exhibited in chronological order and by school and country. The collector’s framing is often at variance with this didactic approach and can prompt reframing in search of a more ‘historically’ accurate presentation. The paper will illustrate, with examples from museum and collections, how the documentation of frames and a frame archive expands our understanding of frames and framings, preserves original framings and informs reframing. Monika Rdzanek-Solecka Images of frames in paintings from The National Museum in Warsaw (Poland) as a source of historical information about framing styles. The paintings and drawings containing picture frames as an integral part of their composition, are extremely valuable in research on the history of framing. Particularly interesting are depictions of historical rooms, art collections and exhibitions. Framed paintings often appear within genre scenes in private spaces or in artists' studios. Sometimes they are featured in portraits as part of an interior setting. Such images are a source of information about exhibition layouts, methods of picture mounting or the artist's specific preferences regarding their artwork framing style. Some details may reveal the actual profiles, shapes and styles that were fashionable at certain times, and may even identify other historical paintings in their original frames from that era. The collection of the National Museum in Warsaw (NMW) includes many paintings, watercolours, and drawings in which frames are directly or indirectly the subject of the composition. This paper brings together the most interesting and representative images of those types. The authors of the works are both Polish and foreign artists, and the interiors shown have a local as well as international character. Most of the pictures discussed here are stored in warehouses and are not part of the permanent exhibition accessible to the public. The aim of this study was to present those selected examples from the NMW collection to a wider group of researchers. These, perhaps lesser-known artworks could become an interesting addition to the sets used in other comparative studies. 21. Day 3 Wednesday 18 February 2026 Keynote Dr Malgorzata Sawicki, FIIC Decision-Making in Gilded Wood Conservation: A Critical Framework for Evaluating Re-gilding, In-gilding, and In-painting The paper will propose a framework for decision-making in gilded wood conservation, outlining the complex ethical and technical challenges faced by conservators. It will explore foundational conservation paradigms, such as minimal intervention, reversibility, and authenticity, noting the subjectivity inherent in these principles, particularly concerning gilded surfaces which often possess multiple "authentic" historical states. It will investigate three structured decision-making models – normative, values-based, and risk-based – which transform subjective judgments into a transparent, systematic process. Finally, the paper will critically evaluate the three primary interventive strategies – re-gilding, ingilding, and in-painting – using a comparative table and a proposed five-step framework illustrated by a hypothetical case study to guide the selection of the most ethically and technically appropriate treatment. Session 5: Ornament in Focus: Novel Approach to Loss Compensation Isabella Baker Reframing Ornament: A Close Inspection of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Picture Frames with Smartphone-Based Photogrammetry While the history of Italian art is extensively researched and documented, the picture frames that border Renaissance and Baroque works remain underexamined. Using smartphone-based photogrammetry during a study abroad program in Italy, this study documents frames in museum settings as a participatory and educational exercise supporting an overlooked area of heritage. This smartphone-based capture method is accessible, non-invasive, and adaptable to the spatial and regulatory conditions of galleries, offering opportunities for museum visitors to contribute to the record of heritage objects that are not typically prioritized by professionals. Digital replicas of Renaissance picture frames, including the frames for Botticelli’s Madonna of the Magnificat and Signorelli’s Holy Family at the Uffizi Gallery, were produced during normal museum visiting hours using a smartphone application called Polycam. Following museum visits, the resulting digital models were refined to generate analytical diagrams illustrating the complexities of picture frame ornament through section cuts, scaled measurements, and analytical overlays. Three-dimensional interaction with the digital frame models revealed nuanced details, such as 22. undercuts, asymmetrical element placement, and molding profiles that are difficult for museum visitors to discern under typical frontal viewing restrictions. These findings were translated into analytical diagrams using linework extracted from the digital models. Comparisons of results also reflect the strengths and limitations of smartphone-based photogrammetry for capturing frames with various relief types, dimensions, and gallery conditions. These visual studies reposition frames as primary subjects of inquiry while demonstrating how accessible digital tools can expand documentation practices within cultural institutions. Yukkiko Barrow Positive and negative castings for gilding parts replacement in areas with limited accessibility. Victorian and Albert museum received four pieces of Chippendale gilded furniture from the Harewood House in Leeds, Northern England, UK. A pair of mirrors and tables. The mirrors, over 2 meters high, are integrated into the interior wall structure. Harewood House is located in Northern England, approximately 200 km away from Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It is open to the public year-round, making visits feasible only when it is closed. There are 50 missing ornaments, presenting numerous challenges. We completed this project just four visits spanning two years. This presentation provides a detailed visual guide on creating positive and negative casts, accompanied by step-by-step images. It includes insights into required materials and useful tips for the process. Session 6: Investigation New Materials and Methods: Innovations in Conservation Treatments Holly McGowan-Jackson A Monumental Frame and Treatment: The Return of the Frame to The Pilgrims Fathers Relegated to the storage area known as “the graveyard” for many years, the massive frame for The Pilgrim Fathers: Departure of a Puritan family for New England by Charles Cope, 1856, now hangs proudly in the National Gallery of Victoria’s Salon hang. Produced by Melbourne frame maker W.R. Stevens in 1871, the classical revival frame retained its original gilded surface but was in extremely poor condition, with extensive losses to the ground layers and compo ornament and significant discolouration to the bottom member. With major interruptions due to Covid-19 lockdowns, as well as having to fit in with other work priorities, the project extended over three years. The treatment was a team effort by NGV Conservation staff and contractors. Highlights of the treatment included major re-creation of missing parts, such as the replacement of acanathus leaf ornament at the mitres of which no complete example existed, cleaning the discoloured original glue coating on the bottom member while retaining the coating using Nanorestore Gel® Peggy 5 & 6, and devising a sympathetic method of joining the frame members (that were 23. originally permanently joined) to allow ease of assembly/disassembly. Despite the hurdles and challenges, the objective was achieved: returning the frame to displayable condition, while respecting its original materials and construction, and reuniting it with the painting for which it was made. The Pilgrim Fathers is now presented as it was intended in 1871, providing the perfect context for its viewing in the NGV’s 19th century galleries. Robert Zilli Framing Tragedy: Frame Conservation and Tradition in the Treatment of George Romney’s ‘Mrs Yates as the Tragic Muse’ This paper explores the conservation-and-tradition narrative of the monumental, gilded frame accompanying George Romney’s ‘Mrs Yates as the Tragic Muse’ (1771) in the collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). The frame, nearly three metres in height, serves as both an artefact of 18th-century luxury frame making and a site of intensive contemporary conservation intervention. Between mid-2022 and early 2024, QAGOMA’s conservation framing studio applied a blend of traditional techniques and modern conservation strategies. Including the removal of inappropriate 19th- and 20th-century repairs, cross-section analysis of gilding layers, and the testing of selective cleaning gels to preserve delicate watergilded surface finishes. Mentored by Dr Malgorzata Sawicki, former Head of Frames Conservation at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the team designed a conservation plan that honoured both the material history of the frame and its aesthetic function. The paper considers how the frame’s material condition, conservation history and aesthetic role interact - as an object of display, as an archival record of past craftsmanship and interventions, and as a functional element in the presentation of art. It argues that the conservation of such historic frames demands a combined understanding of traditional framing techniques, contemporary conservation materials and evolving display contexts. In so doing, it contributes to the symposium’s theme by placing the historic frame not merely as accompaniment but as a key site of intersection between visual art, craft history and conservation practice. Genevive Tobin Insights into Developing Organic Solvent Gels of Partially Hydrolyzed Poly (vinyl acetate) and Boron-based Crosslinkers for Cleaning Gilded Picture Frames. Novel organogels formed from partially hydrolysed poly (vinyl acetate) and boronbased crosslinkers are well suited for cleaning gilded wooden surfaces (Sawicki et al. 2019; Tobin & Sawicki 2023, 2025; Bravo 2023). The ability for these gels to constrain large proportions of polar organic solvents in addition to their unique highly viscoelastic working properties allow for low impact softening of overpaint and varnish schemes from sensitive gilding with no need to clear the gel. Knowledge on the use of these gel-like materials in cleaning historic picture frames can be 24. summarised as following: various hydrolysed PVAc polymers crosslinked with borax produce physically customisable (rigid and flexible) gels that accommodate a range of low to high proportions of polar organic solvents that are useful for removing paint materials, low hydrolysed PVAc crosslinked with benzene-1,4-diboronic Acid (BDBA) substituting borax produce stable transparent gel systems with no water however they have been characterised with various organic solvents (Duncan et al. 2017a, 2017b, 2018) that are either considered less suitable for conservation due to concerns on toxicity, and or are ineffective in gelling (requiring a re-examination of solvent compatibility). This paper presents aspects from collaborative research undertaken as part of an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C on expanding the range of comparatively ‘greener’ and widely useful solvent systems that can be successfully gelled in PVAc-BDBA organogels (Tobin & Duncan-pending). Questions also arise on the potential for gelling β-diketones (organic solvents with chelating properties) and producing PVAc based gels or gel composites with alternative cleaning agents to traditional organic solvents, and whether these have desirable physicochemical properties and cleaning efficacy for gilded wood. Gels are featured to remove varnish and brassbased overpaint from picture frames from two museum collections: [1] a mordant-gilded tabernacle frame from the National Gallery of Art, USA, and [2] a 19th-century gypsum-ornamented frame from the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway. References Bravo, I., 2023. Tailoring cleaning systems for the removal of bronze paint and soiling from a J.M.W. Turner gilded frame. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2022.2111498 Duncan, Teresa T. 2017a. “Hydrogels and Organogels from partially hydrolysed poly(vinyl acetate)s and boronbased crosslinkers: Development, characterization, and application to the conservation of art.” PhD. diss., Georgetown University, School of Arts and Sciences, Washington D.C., USA. Duncan, Teresa T., Barbara H. Berrie, and Richard G. Weiss. 2017b. “Soft, Peelable Organogels from Partially Hydrolyzed Poly(vinyl acetate) and Benzene-1,4-diboronic Acid: Applications to Clean Works of Art.” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 9: 28069−28078. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsa Duncan, Teresa & Weiss, Richard. (2018). Influence of length and structure of aryl boronic acid crosslinkers on organogels with partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate). Colloid and Polymer Science. 296. 10.1007/s00396-0184326-7. Sawicki, Malgorzata, Emma Rouse, Sofia Lo Bianco, and Seela Kautto. 2019. “An Investigation of the Feasibility of the Use of Gels and Emulsions in Cleaning of Gilded Wooden Surfaces. Part A: Removal of Brass-Based Overpainting.” In Heritage Wood, edited by Austin Nevin and Malgorzata Sawicki, 1-36. Cultural Heritage Science, Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11054-3_1. Tobin, Genevieve, and Malgorzata Sawicki. 2023. “Developing conservation practices for cleaning gilded surfaces: applications for PVOH/borax cross-linking organogel complexes in the cleaning of two gilded frames.” In Working Towards a Sustainable Past. ICOM-CC 20th Triennial Conference Preprints, Valencia, 18–22 September 2023, edited by Janet Bridgland. Paris: International Council of Museums Tobin, G., & Sawicki, M. (2025). Evaluating the Workability of Highly Viscous Polymeric Dispersions (HVPDs) of xPVAc-Borax for Cleaning Gilded Wooden Surfaces. Studies in Conservation, 1–16. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00393630.2025.2469474 Tobin & Duncan (pending manuscript submission) Expanding Solvent Compatibility of Organogels of Partially Hydrolyzed Poly (vinyl acetate) and Benzene-1,4-diboronic Acid (BDBA) for Cleaning Sensitive Gilded Wood 25. Session 7: Behind the Border: Frame Conservation Problems, Technology, and Research Michael Gregory The Reframing of Portrait George IV by Sir Thomas Lawrence, The Wallace Collection, London. Archival research on Lawrence frames and documentation of how he wished his paintings to be framed informed the reframing of the Portrait George IV by Sir Thomas Lawrence, for The Wallace Collection, London. The painting lost its original frame when installed in paneling during the remodelling of Hartford House. The talk, with quotes by Lawrence on his specific views on framing and gilding, and with reference to images from the archive of Lawrence frames, tells of the reframing of the painting. The acquired frame, with frame makers label, was by the frame maker used by Lawrence and George IV and fitted the painting precisely. Louisa Stark The Remit of the Easel Painting Conservator in Frame Conservation within the Conservation Departments of regional UK Museums and Galleries Today: An Exploration of Contemporary Attitudes and Working Practices Although frame conservation and easel painting conservation are separate disciplines, overlaps between paintings and their frames exist aesthetically, practically and in terms of conservation concerns. Indeed, painting and frame are inextricably linked, forming both one cohesive visual experience and a single, handleable object. Due primarily to funding constraints, it appears that dedicated ‘in-house’ frame conservator roles are in decline and their work, vital for enabling the conservation, loan and display of paintings, taken up by painting conservators. My research uses both quantitative and qualitative data gathered through a UK-wide survey of ‘inhouse’ conservators working within regional UK Museums and Art Galleries to form an up to-date picture of the remit and responsibilities of painting conservators in relation to frame conservation within these conservation departments today - encompassing staffing levels; working practices, approaches and attitudes; and case studies of the conservation treatment of paintings with notable, artist-made or artist-designed frames. Tom Langlands Carving in Bali, Edmund Capon Fellowship, October 2025. Carving is a skill that I’ve always wanted to improve. This year I was fortunate to receive the Edmund Capon Fellowship, awarded annually for gallery staff to undertake research or professional development in an Asian country. 26. Wood carving in Bali is a traditional artform that has existed for many centuries and the preservation and perpetuation of traditional arts and crafts is very important to the Balinese, so I was determined to find a carving workshop or course that I could join. I was able to line up a three-week training opportunity in Bali, with master carver Pak Made and his son Kadek Ardika. The ‘course’ covered traditional Balinese carving techniques, motifs and symbolism and their connection to religion and mythology, leading to deeper conversations about life itself. As I was to discover, I could not have wished for a more ideal immersive cultural experience. Louise Bradley Exploring reverse carving to make frame ornament moulds. My reverse carving explorations arose from a lockdown project to make a replica period frame for a painting by Clarice Beckett. With no access to a frame from which I could make a mould of a corner ornament, I decided to carve a mould. There were no online tutorials for reverse carving so I experimented until I succeeded in making moulds for two frame styles; banded and a narrow acanthus mitre leaf. The resulting frame sat well with other replica and original frames in the exhibition, Clarice Beckett, the present moment. I have continued to experiment with reverse carving to make original corner ornaments. With this short presentation I hope to inspire other frame makers to take up this fascinating craft. Louisa Stark The Remit of the Easel Painting Conservator in Frame Conservation within the Conservation Departments of regional UK Museums and Galleries Today: An Exploration of Contemporary Attitudes and Working Practices Although frame conservation and easel painting conservation are separate disciplines, overlaps between paintings and their frames exist aesthetically, practically and in terms of conservation concerns. Indeed, painting and frame are inextricably linked, forming both one cohesive visual experience and a single, handleable object. Due primarily to funding constraints, it appears that dedicated ‘in-house’ frame conservator roles are in decline and their work, vital for enabling the conservation, loan and display of paintings, taken up by painting conservators. My research uses both quantitative and qualitative data gathered through a UK-wide survey of ‘inhouse’ conservators working within regional UK Museums and Art Galleries to form an up to-date picture of the remit and responsibilities of painting conservators in relation to frame conservation within these conservation departments today - encompassing staffing levels; working practices, approaches and attitudes; and case studies of the conservation treatment of paintings with notable, artist-made or artist-designed frames. 27. Phillip Blacklow, Anita Gowers Repairing a Veneer Surface of an 1830s Huon Pine Frame: A Maker's Perspective This presentation examines the surface repair of a rare 1830s Huon pine veneered frame, demonstrating how traditional making knowledge informs contemporary conservation ethics. Huon pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii), endemic to Tasmania's temperate rainforests, was prized in colonial furniture-making for its fine grain, figuring, workability, and natural resistance to decay. The frame under discussion presented challenges characteristic of early colonial manufacture: veneer delamination, substrate movement, historical repairs using inappropriate adhesives, and complete surface failure. Drawing on furniture-making expertise in dialogue with conservation principles, the treatment methodology emphasised minimal intervention while respecting the frame's material integrity and historical context. Techniques included identification of the original finish composition, controlled surface cleaning to maintain the original patina, and selective application of consolidates to stabilize delaminated areas whilst maintaining material integrity. The presentation critically evaluates how maker's knowledge - encompassing wood behaviour, grain orientation, and period construction techniques—intersects with conservation imperatives to preserve authenticity and provenance, arguing that embodied craft knowledge constitutes a legitimate form of conservation expertise. By foregrounding the craftsperson's tactile understanding of materials and joinery, this case study demonstrates how traditional making skills inform ethically sound conservation decisions. The treatment highlights the challenges of working with Huon pine's resinous properties and colonial-era manufacturing practices, providing practical insights for conservators approaching similar Tasmanian heritage objects where maker and conservator perspectives must productively converge. This approach has relevance for colonial-era Australasian objects, where documentation of original making practices is often fragmentary and material evidence remains the primary source of historical information. Louise Bradley Replicating a Bronze Powder Mount. A gouache painting by Maximilian Lenz, Woman with a golden cloak, (Femme aux manteau doré), 1914, was gifted to the National Gallery of Victoria in the original frame and bronze gilded mount. The mount had suffered loss visible at the top edge. I was contracted to replicate the original very thick bronze powder gilded mount, using archival methods and materials. The new mount was made of ten-ply Rising Museum rag board in a structure to match the original, including the bevel lining strips. The mount was spray gilded using mica pigment with Plextol B 500 binder, with a watercolour line painted at the bevel edge. The resulting finish was very close to the original and ensured that the artist’s intent in framing was maintained. 28. BIOGRAPHIES OF KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Dr Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau Dr Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau is chief curator at the Paintings department at the Musée du Louvre, where she is responsible for the collection of antique frames, Iberian painting, and the Beistegui and Lyon collections. She holds a doctorate in art history from the University of Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne and is a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre and the Institut national du patrimoine (INP). She curated the focus exhibition “Regards sur les cadres” (Musée du Louvre, June 27, 2018November 3, 2019) and is currently leading the scientific inventory of the collection of over 3 000 empty antique frames held in storage by the Musée du Louvre. Her research also focuses on the history of picture framing at the Musée du Louvre. She has given training courses on frames (History, management and conservation) at the INP and Ecole du Louvre. Her publications on frames include: • J. Robin Dupire, C. Chastel-Rousseau et al., « Histoire des pratiques de comblement de lacunes d’objets en plâtre : le cas de la collection de cadres du XIXe siècle et la collection de statuaire moulée de la gypsothèque du musée du Louvre », Technè, 2020, n°50, pp. 105-113 • C. Chastel-Rousseau, « Les yeux emplis de l’or des cadres », Grande Galerie, hors-série Recherche, 2018, pp. 48-59 • C. Chastel-Rousseau, « Les cadres, des chefs-d’œuvre méconnus », Grande Galerie, 2018, n°44, pp. 66-67 • C. Chastel-Rousseau, E. Lopez, « S’unir très doucement avec les couleurs sans les offenser : Redécouverte et restauration d’un cadre des collections du musée du Louvre, Patrimoines, Institut national du patrimoine / Réunion des musées nationaux, 2017, n° 13, pp. 140-145 • C. Chastel-Rousseau, « Between Amsterdam, Paderborn and Rome: a remarkable frame in the collections of the Louvre », Auricular Style: Frames, Londres, The Wallace Collection, conference 5-6 October 2016, proceedings published on the dedicated website on Frame Blog, G. Alabone et L. Roberts (dir.) https://auricularstyleframes.wordpress.com/ 29. Josephina de Fouw Josephina de Fouw works as Curator of Eighteenth-century Painting and Frames at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. She studied museology at the Reinwardt Academy and Art History at the University of Amsterdam, holding a master’s degree from the Museum Curator program. From 2014 to 2016, she worked as a Junior Curator of Eighteenth-Century Dutch Painting at the Rijksmuseum. Subsequently, she curated exhibitions in Museum Van Loon (Amsterdam) and Museum Gouda. In 2018, she returned to the Rijksmuseum in her current position. With her appointment as Curator of Frames, in addition to eighteenth century painting, she’s the first curator in the museum to hold this this dual role. In this position she works closely with Tess Graafland, conservator of Frames and Gilding at the Rijksmuseum since 2016. As a dedicated frames team they oversee an elaborate frame collection spanning over seven centuries of art. Their tandem collaboration paved the way for the active acquisition of historical frames and a more intense focus on the reuse of frames in the collection. To facilitate this, a tool was developed being able to ‘mix and match’ paintings and frames. Guidelines have been developed to improve the registration and visibility of the collection. By partnering with museums, universities and specialists Josephina and Tess strive to strengthen the network and exchange knowledge. Recently, this resulted in the loan of an empty frame to another museum, where it makes a perfect match with a painting from their collection. As advocates for frames they also aim to raise public awareness as well, ranging from a video for the museum’s website to the presenting a story about frames in the Dutch television program Secrets of the Museum. Dr Malgorzata Sawicki, FIIC Since retiring from her role as Head of Frames Conservation at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, in 2021, Dr Malgorzata Sawicki FIIC has continued to consult on a wide range of conservation projects. She has collaborated with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), Los Angeles, US; the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, The University of Melbourne; and the Conservation and Digitisation Centre Kanut and the Estonian 30. Academy of Arts (EKA), Cultural Heritage and Conservation, Tallinn, Estonia. Dr Sawicki established and managed the Frames Conservation section of the AGNSW Conservation Department from 1986 to 2021. She managed and undertaken many frames conservation projects at the AGNSW as well as from the collections of other public institutions in Australia and New Zealand, including State Library of New South Wales (Sydney), Contemporary Art Museum (Sydney), Historic Houses Trust of NSW(Sydney), Parliament House (Sydney), Parliament House (Canberra), Canterbury Museum and Art Gallery (Christchurch, New Zealand). She has mentored and taught numerous Australian and international students and interns in the conservation of gilded objects and frames. Her research and publications address a wide range of issues in gilding conservation, with particular focus on non‑traditional gilding techniques for loss compensation, surface cleaning of gilded wood, and the formation of metal soaps in gold‑imitation finishes on wood. The founder and first convenor of the AICCM Gilded Objects Conservation Special Interest Group (1996–2001), Dr Sawicki also served as Coordinator of the ICOM‑CC Wood, Furniture, and Lacquer Working Group (2008– 2014). She has been honoured by the AICCM with the Conservator of the Year Award (1999), the Award for Outstanding Research in the Field of Materials Conservation (2009), and the AICCM Medal (2018) in recognition of her career‑long contribution to the conservation profession. BIOGRAPHIES OF SPEAKERS Isabella Baker Isabella Baker is a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) pursuing a Master of Architecture. She received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Georgia Tech in May 2025, along with the “Provost’s Academic Excellence Award” for graduating with the highest scholastic achievement of her class. Isabella conducts ongoing research analyzing smartphone-based photogrammetry with a focus on capturing Italian Renaissance and Baroque picture frames, a project that began in Italy with Georgia Tech’s “Architectonics in Greece and Italy” program in June 2023. Isabella received funding from the Institute's “President’s Undergraduate Research Award” in June 2024 and October 2024 to support her research on preservation and digital fabrication. She presented her research work at Georgia Tech’s “Digital Heritage Exhibition” and won “Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher” for Georgia Tech’s College of Design in April 2024. Dr Phillip Blacklow With nearly 50 years in timber and furniture making, I trained as a traditional furniture maker, specializing in classical and contemporary pieces for private and institutional 31. collections. My expertise spans timber selection, machining, hand-crafting, and finishing skills developed through comprehensive training at F. H. Vallance & Sons, where I completed my Cabinet Making apprenticeship. My career highlights include creating furniture for Parliament House Canberra's Senate Chamber and the Prime Minister's office. I worked at the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania, for three decades as a studio coordinator including supervising honors, masters, and PhD candidates. My PhD research focused on high-end applications for plantation eucalypts, bridging craft knowledge with academic research. This transition required articulating tacit knowledge - the sensory, tactile processes deeply rooted in decades of practice and learning from master craftspeople. My work demonstrates how traditional making informs contemporary research, connecting half a century of hands-on experience with innovation in timber applications. Louise Bradley Louise Bradley is a conservation framer in private practice specialising in mounting and framing of work on paper, with interests in period frames and decorated mounts. Her papers on these themes include, Reproducing Decorative Mounts, published in “Art on Paper: Mounting and Housing”, Archetype Books, and A Fragile Connection: the Artist’s Frame for a Work on Paper, published in “On Paper? Preprint of the AICCM 8th Book, Paper and Photographic Materials Symposium”. Louise is a past convener of the AICCM Conservation Framers Special Interest Group. While in this role she helped to establish the triennial frame symposium, AICCM – FRAME: Concept, History and Conservation as an important event for the field of frame studies. Dr. Jennifer Booth Dr. Jennifer Booth has a background in archaeological science having participated in fieldwork projects in the U.K., Turkey, Iran, and Egypt. Subsequent to a BSc in Archaeology and MA in Principles of Conservation, both at University College London, Jennifer undertook an AHRC sponsored collaborative doctoral award in conservation with The University of Oxford and The British Museum. Jennifer joined Tru Vue in 2013 as the International Museum and Conservation Liaison before moving to Chicago in 2017 to lead the Fine Art & Museums team. Over the last 13 years Jennifer has collaborated with framers, conservators, artists and architects on a vast number of framing and display projects, from individual items to whole museum development initiatives. Jennifer champions smaller institutional access to conservation funds and materials, primarily with the Icon-Tru Vue Conservation and Exhibition Grant. Stephanie Carlton Stephanie Carlton is a freelance frames conservator currently practicing in the UK. She works for national institutions and historic private collections on the conservation of frames, gilding and structural wooden substrates. She also specialises in 32. conservation framing methods for panel paintings, and the conservation aspects of touring exhibitions, both national and international. Her background is in Fine Arts, gaining an Honours degree at Federation University, Victoria. She gained early professional experience in regional galleries prior to relocating to the UK in 2003. She joined the Paintings Conservation department at the Royal Collection Trust, Windsor, as a conservation framer, receiving specialised training in frame and gilding conservation in post. Her career has included positions such as International Programme Frames Conservator at the National Portrait Gallery London, and Conservation Project Manager at the Royal Collection Trust. She is a professional member of ICON (the UK’s Institute of Conservation) and an AICCM member Marei Döhring Marei Döhring is a PhD candidate researching picture frames of the early 20th century, focusing on frame designs that depart from gilding and historical ornament. She previously completed her Master’s thesis on the Expressionist frames of Die Brücke. As an art historian, she has contributed to framing projects for works by artists including Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Wassily Kandinsky. Barbara Dabrowa Barbara Dabrowa completed her Master’s Degree in the Conservation of Gilded Objects, University of Nicolaus Copernicus, Torun, Poland, 1985. She has worked as Senior Frames Conservator, at the Art Gallery of NSW since 1995. During her career she carried out many projects in the field of gilding conservation. She worked as Head of the Gilded Objects Conservation Laboratory at the Royal Castle and later Wilanow Palace, Warsaw, Poland. Other major projects comprise conservation treatments and research at the Bishops Palace, Bratislava, Slovakia, 1992; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK, 2003 and State Library of NSW, 2015 and 2018. She was the organiser and convenor of AICCM- FRAME: Concept, History and Conservation Symposium 2, Art Gallery of NSW, April 2019. She is a Convenor of AICCM GOCSIG and ICOM CC Member. Michael Gregory Fascinated by the picture frame as a decorative arts object, that makes links between painting and context, Michael has documented pictures in their frames in museums and collections worldwide and maintains a Frames & Framing archive. As a frame historian and combining his skills as a craftsman, Michael advises museums and private collectors on historically appropriate frames for paintings and lectures on the subject. Michael studied Carving, in Wood & Stone, Gilding, and Conservation of Decorative Surfaces, at City & Guilds of London Art School. After graduation he joined Arnold Wiggins & Sons, as a carver, working alongside Jim Wiggins, before taking over the management of Wiggins. He holds the Royal Warrant as Picture Frame Maker to His Majesty King Charles III. 33. Anita Gowers Anita Gowers is an Australian frame historian and PhD candidate at Monash University, where she is researching nineteenth-century Australian picture frames. Her work examines the relationship between frames, interior design, and decorative arts in colonial contexts, while employing digital humanities methods to advance historical inquiry into material culture. Prior to her academic career, Gowers worked as a frame designer, an experience that has directly informed her scholarly research and provided her with deep understanding of the craft and materiality of framemaking. She has held strategic research positions in academia across disciplines, bringing interdisciplinary expertise to her investigations of material culture and decorative arts history. Joanna Lang Paintings, objects, and heritage building conservator with academic training in art conservation at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and in museology at the University of Warsaw, Poland. Professional experience includes 17 years at the Warsaw Uprising Museum (main registrar, main conservator, head of iconography & photography department) Awards: Medal for Merit to Polish Culture, awarded by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Professional Affiliations: Individual member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), Paris. Moved to Australia in January 2021. She shares her life between Tasmania and Victoria and enjoys working not in a large institution but through direct, personal contact with clients in private practice. Currently a committee member of the Furneaux Museum (Flinders Island). Tom Langlands After completing an apprenticeship style training with frame maker David Butler, Tom Langlands has been making reproduction frames for the Art Gallery of New South Wales for over 10 years. Prior to this, he has been employed by the Gallery in various roles in Conservation, Registration, and Installation since 2009. Tom is also a practicing visual artist, and collector of classic cars, for better or worse. Holly McGowan-Jackson Holly McGowan-Jackson is Senior Conservator of Frames & Furniture at the National Gallery of Victoria. She trained at the University of Canberra, graduating with a Bachelor of Applied Science in the Conservation of Cultural Materials, specialising in Objects Conservation. In 1994-6 Holly undertook an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Objects Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, working in the Furniture Conservation section. Holly joined the National Gallery of Victoria Conservation Department in 1996, where she manages the Frames & Furniture Conservation section, with a focus on the examination and conservation treatment of picture frames. Holly conducts research to develop knowledge of the NGV collection 34. of historic frames and to inform the historically accurate reframing of artworks in the collection. Other areas of interest include the cleaning of gilded surfaces, the preservation of frames in collections, 19th century Australian frame makers and the 3D scanning of picture frames. Cynthia Moyer Cynthia Moyer graduated from William Smith College, Geneva, NY, USA in 1975 with a BA in anthropology and sociology and a minor in studio art. Starting in 1974, she served informal apprenticeships in the furniture restoration field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York City before establishing a private practice in 1977, specializing in gilded wood and finishes on American, British and European artifacts. She joined AIC in 1983 and ICOM-CC in 2021. She has worked for the Richard H. Jenrette Foundation, The J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and for numerous private and institutional clients and continues to present and publish on her conservation treatments. She joined The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006 in Objects Conservation to work on the Wrightsman Galleries reinstallation, and the Department of Paintings Conservation in 2009 as the first designated frame conservator. Associate Conservator, Department of Paintings Conservation The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028 USA October 2025. Mark Searle Mark Searle completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Conservation Studies at City and Guilds of London Art achieving a Distinction in 2015. He has worked as a frame conservator for various institutions and galleries in the UK including National Trust, Guildhall Art Gallery and Tate. After moving to Sydney in 2022, he was frame and furniture conservator for ICS and has currently worked as frame conservator for AGNSW since 2023. Suzanne Smeaton Suzanne Smeaton is a pioneer in the study and scholarship of American period frames, framing fine art for museums and collectors over several decades. For some 27 years, she was employed as Gallery Director at the noted frame gallery of Eli Wilner & Company in New York City. Suzanne currently focuses on frame research and history and conducting frame surveys in collections both public and private as well as educational offerings. Suzanne is a frequent lecturer at museums across the country, an author on the topic of American frame history and an instructor for the Appraiser’s Association of America’s Comprehensive Appraisal Studies Program (CASP). Suzanne is a certified member of the Appraiser’s Association of America (AAA). Suzanne’s most recent publication on the frames of Florine Stettheimer appears in the Summer 2025 issue of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s journal American Art. New York, NY, USA 7.25.2025 35. Louisa Stark Louisa graduated with distinction in 2024 from the MA Conservation of Fine Art, Easel Paintings programme at Northumbria University. She has undertaken placements within the painting conservation departments of the Laing Art Gallery, the Guildhall Art Gallery and Royal Museums Greenwich, and worked as a freelance conservator for the National Trust, Brick House Conservation, and St John’s College, Oxford with Georgina Dennis conservation. She is currently Painting Conservation Intern at Fine Art Restoration Company, a private conservation studio in Carlisle. Her interest in the conservation of frames began during placements and led her to further research this topic in relation to painting conservation for her dissertation, the early stages of which were presented at the 42nd Gerry Hedley Symposium at the Courtauld Institute of Art in June 2024. Mara Verykokou Mara Verykokou joined the Benaki Museum in 2003 as assistant curator of the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Collection; she is currently the curator. She obtained her MA in History of Art from the University of Aberdeen and her MA in Museum Studies from University College London. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of History and Archaeology, with a thesis titled ‘Temporary exhibition policy and communication at the Benaki Museum from the 1970s to 2015.’ Mara has been involved as researcher in various exhibition projects. In 2018-2019 Mara curated the Benaki Museum pop-up exhibition ‘Healing the Body: Medical Instruments and Healing Practices from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages’, in 2021 she curated another Benaki exhibition, ‘1821: The Collectors’ Choice’ and in 2022 she curated the ‘On the Relics of Asia Minor’ exhibition at Santirvan, Drama. Her current research focuses on various Benaki Museum collections: Late Antique and medieval medical instruments, Venetian icon-frames and 18th to 19th-century ecclesiastical silverware. Robert Zilli Robert Zilli is the Conservation Framer at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), where he has dedicated more than 30 years to the care, preservation, and presentation of the state’s art collection. Trained in furniture restoration in Italy, Robert combines traditional European craftsmanship with contemporary preventive conservation to ensure each frame both protects and honours the artwork it holds. He holds a Master’s in Preventive Conservation and is the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship and an International Specialised Skills Institute Fellowship. Robert has presented widely on the history, craft, and conservation of picture frames, and his published writings continue to deepen understanding of frames as cultural artefacts. Guided by a profound respect for art and material history, his work sustains the dialogue between object, maker, and time. 36. 37. 38.
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