Spanish 17th century reproduction frame
We were commissioned by Paul Mitchell Ltd to produce a copy of a large Spanish 17th century frame for a painting by Juan de Valdés Leal at Saint Louis Art Museum. The style is known as Herrera and comes from it's namesake Juan de Herrera, a sixteenth century designer, who along with Juan Bautista de Toledo created the Palace of the Escorial for Philip II. Herrera's style in architecture, which combines Moorish ornaments and other geometrical motifs, was then adopted by goldsmiths and other craftsmen throughout the seventeenth century. If you look at the close-up images you can see the punchwork which outlines the raised stylised leafwork and further embellishes the design - the antique frame appears next to some of the images. The water gilded reproduction frame was aged to a seventeenth century finish with warm bole colours revealed to the tops of the carvings.