Tracy Gill

We own one of the last remaining family businesses in lower Manhattan. We restore and replicate antique picture frames. In the nineteenth century this was a thriving business category in New York City. There was even a gilder framemaker at our same address from 1832- 1835. We spent 11 months researching and fabricating this 1870s-style American frame. We made it using traditional methods of gilding and woodwork. The frame measures 8 x 12 feet and weighs over 650 pounds. It is gilded with 200 square feet of 23-karat gold leaf. The ornament, laid end to end would extend the length of a football field. The frame was so large we had to saw through the railings outside to get it out of our gallery. We loaded it on to a truck and drove it upstate to the Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning. There, it had to be hoisted by crane up three stories to a balcony to get it into the museum. The painting, a view of Mount Whitney, is by Albert Bierstadt. At the time it was painted in 1877, people would pay money to sit and view these grand panoramic landscapes. It is an iconic American painting, and we were proud to make such an historic frame. In this photo, the canvas had just been fitted into the frame. It took ten men to lift it to upright position. You can’t see them but the ten men are still standing behind the frame, holding it steady. This is our twelve-year old daughter, we took her out of school for the day to travel to Corning to be a part of this event. At this moment, the first time anyone had seen the painting in its historic new frame, I asked her to pose so I could take her picture and capture the moment. Instead of facing me, she turned and looked at the view.