In a world of contemporary works of art that leap off the walls and ooze all over the place, frames can be a reassuring reminder that there was a time when art could be contained. Before there were paintings, there were frames. The earliest of these might be considered the window frame, door, or opening that was used to “frame” a view of the landscape. Anyone familiar with the framed vistas and artistic openings at archaeological sites throughout the Southwest, such as Chaco Canyon, can easily attest to the fact that the art of framing in New Mexico has very deep roots indeed.

The Greeks and Romans first used decorative framing devices around paintings on vases and surrounding the edges of mosaics. By the Middle Ages the beginnings of framed works of art as we know them today were coming into being. Chief among these were religious works of art that were placed in elaborate frames as part of an altar. On a smaller scale, book pages and small portable religious altars also used very elaborate frames or framing devices. New Mexican churches employed both the device of painting a framing border around a wall painting, as well as making fairly elaborate architectural frames that were built into churches to hold works of religious art. The Chapel of San Miguel in Santa Fe, right on the Santa Fe Trail, is a great early example of a large altar screen made locally to act as a frame for paintings brought northward from Mexico proper.

The use of gold leaf, something we so closely associate with fine frames, goes back to the early frames of the medieval period. At that time the gold covered equally valuable carving. The frame itself was a religious statement signaling through the materials used, which were usually gold and jewels, the importance of the figures such as the Holy Family and their retinue of saints.

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