Knowledge
of the frame design can sometimes help researchers identify
the artist or the tastes of his or her patron. It is likely
that the Maratta-style frames, which were no doubt seen
by many English travelers on the Grand Tour, heavily influenced
British and some American frames in the last quarter of
the eighteenth century. The Empire-style frame came into
fashion during Napoleon Bonaparte's reign (1804-1815) and
was imitated in the U.S. well into the 1820s. It consisted
of a precise and highly refined double-scooped molding
with low relief plaster or composition-cast
ornaments derived from neoclassical ornamentation. Anthemion,
wreath, and oak leaf elements were often found in combinations
on frames of this era. An alternating anthemion-and-wreath
pattern is seen on the frame that surrounds the portrait
of Mrs. Thomas Avery that
was painted by Gilbert Stuart about 1806. The oak leaf,
a neoclassical
symbol
for strength, is seen on a frame made four years later
for Stuart's portrait of Thomas Coffin
Amory. A second frame bearing a denser configuration of
oak leaves was fashioned about the same date for Stuart's
portrait of Sir Isaac Coffin.
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