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Traditional picture frames was made out of wood, which today, is still the most widely used frame. Overall, picture frames are made of any color or texture, and almost any material. As you have seen in your local art gallery, picture frames can have many moldings.
To protect the picture, most commercial frames have a pane of glass, or in many cases, a pane of plastic substitute called Plexiglas. Though glass panes have better clarity, can be made to restrict glare, and make the painting more valuable, there are not as durable. For watercolor and oil paintings, you will find them protected by glass, except for those paintings in museums.
Because of condensation, glass should not come in direct contact with the painting. Unlike posters, temporary observations, or disposable art, it is necessary to protect other valuable art in all frames. Protecting the art requires spacing between the art and the frame and this is done by using rows of plastic spacers. This process is called matting. There are a number of other methods to put space between the picture and the picture frame, including shadowboxing, placing the glass in between two moldings.
Paintings in acrylic or oil, typically will not need to be covered by glass. The reason being is very different; for acrylic paintings, they are waterproof, and for oil paintings, they need to breathe, due to decades-long drying process that is required. At times, there may be a purpose for putting these type of paintings under glass temporarily by the matting process mentioned prior.
What about the back-side of picture frames? In the case of oil paintings, there is no backing. For most other paintings, foam-core, or simply backing paper is utilized. The paper, as one might suspect, can tear, though it be an inexpensive choice. History of framed art goes back several centuries, with the discovery of a portrait of a mummy in an Egyptian tomb. They date this discovery back to the 2nd century, A.D. This portrait was still in its wooden frame.
In most cases, ancient picture frame bordering was used to separate scenes and depictions by ancient Egyptian and Greek artists, most usually found in pottery and wall paintings. Experts revealed that these frames are typically made from one piece of wood, the area to be painted was carved out, leaving a raised border, or frame. This became an early frame as the scene was then painted on the carved out portion.
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