Small Parcel-gilt Wood ‘salvator Rosa’ Or ‘carlo Maratta’ Frame

Small parcel-gilt wood ‘Salvator Rosa’ or ‘Carlo Maratta’ frame.
Glass, parcel-gilt wood.
Rome.
Late 17th century.
23 x 21 cm (9,06 x 8,27 in) (framed) ; 13 x 10 cm (5,12 x 3,94 in) (glass).

This type of frame, known as the ‘Salvator Rosa’ frame or ‘Carlo Maratta’ frame, is perhaps the most emblematic type of Roman Baroque frame : it became the ‘house farm’ for the Barberini, Doria Pamphilj, Colonna, and Spada galleries, and it is in this type of frame that the paintings in the papal collections were reframed en masse in the 18th century.

The typical motif of the Rosa or Maratta frame, alternating sober ogees and friezes richly decorated with foliage, has several variations, some entirely gilded or silvered, others simply painted ochre yellow or raw Sienna. Rosa or Maratta frames in their entirely gilt version crowd the vedute of Giovanni Paolo Panini, views of real or imaginary Roman galleries brimming with countless real paintings, and it is not surprising that this type of frame became very fashionable among Grand Tourists of the late 18th century, particularly within the British aristocracy. For the present frame, the typical motifs of the Rosa or Maratta frame alternate, with the sober blackened ogees, Baroque foliage, symetrical twists, and egg-and-dart friezes, all gilt. The frame has retained its original glass.

See Paul Mitchell and Lynn Roberts, A History of European Picture Frames, London, 1996.