O'Neill, HMC; (2015) Re-framing the Italian Renaissance at the National Gallery, 1824-2014. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

Abstract

My thesis examines for the first time, how Italian Renaissance painting has been physically and conceptually framed and re-framed at the National Gallery, from its foundation in 1824, to the present day. My focus is therefore mainly their historic, historicising and Neo-Renaissance picture frames (although I make comparisons with frame collections in other national and international collections). I also treat as a wider conceptual frame, the changing appearance of the physical spaces at the National Gallery and the diverse socio-economic and art historical roles and responsibilities expected of it. Over six chapters I have sought to identify the varied roles frames and framing have played in mediating the entry of Italian Renaissance panels into the museum environment. My enquiries explore how re-framing has enabled these dislocated panels to be displayed, as both art historical specimens and works for aesthetic pleasure. I also examine how re-framing has engaged with establishing the Renaissance artistic canon and helped controversial works to become more acceptable to English taste. I relate the appearance of frames themselves and therefore the re-fashioned object as a whole, to mainly nineteenth-century but also twentieth-century readings of the ‘Renaissance’. In the concluding chapter I consider the status and function of historic, historicising and Neo-Renaissance picture frames in the contemporary National Gallery and in other comparable institutions, in order to establish guidelines for a twenty-first century framing policy.

Download activity - last month

Export as JSONCSVXML

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item