Caring for Framed Art

A well-framed picture needs only a few minutes of care a year. Most damage to framed art at home comes from three things: liquid cleaner that runs under the glass, a cloth that scratches acrylic, and a wall with too much sun, heat or damp. This guide covers cleaning, the place on the wall, and a short check of the frame once a year.

First, find out if it is glass or acrylic

Glazing means the clear sheet at the front of a frame. It is either glass or acrylic, a clear plastic, and the two are cleaned in different ways. Tap the sheet with a fingernail. Glass gives a sharp, high sound and feels cold. Acrylic gives a dull sound and feels warmer, and the frame is light for its size. Large frames are often glazed with acrylic for that reason. Our guide to acrylic vs glass explains the differences.

A painting on canvas usually has no glazing at all. Dust it with a soft, dry brush and keep every cleaner away from the paint.

How to clean glass

1. Hold the frame still with one hand, or lay a small frame flat on a towel with its face up.
2. Spray a small amount of glass cleaner on a soft cloth that leaves no fluff. Keep the spray away from the frame: liquid sprayed on the glass runs down to the bottom edge, gets under the glass and soaks into the mat, the border of card around the picture.
3. Wipe from the middle toward the edges and stop before the cloth reaches the frame.
4. Dry the glass with a second clean cloth.

How to clean acrylic

Acrylic scratches more easily than glass, and some household cleaners damage it.

• Blow or brush loose dust off first. Dust dragged under a cloth leaves fine scratches.
• Use a soft microfibre cloth with water and a drop of mild soap, or a cleaner made for acrylic.
• Keep paper towels away from it. Paper is rough enough to scratch the surface.
• Keep glass cleaners that contain ammonia or alcohol away from it. They can turn the surface cloudy.
• Wipe with light pressure and dry with a clean soft cloth. A dry cloth rubbed hard builds static, which pulls dust back onto the sheet.

A painting on canvas usually hangs with no glazing, so it has no sheet in front of it to clean. Echoes Within is an acrylic on canvas from our gallery, 30 by 40 cm, showing the green outline of a head in profile with a small figure inside.

The frame itself

Dust a wooden or metal frame with a soft dry cloth or a soft brush. Keep water and furniture polish off a gilded or painted finish, because gold leaf and some painted finishes lift when they get wet. A carved frame holds dust in its pattern, and a clean, dry paintbrush reaches into it.

Taking a frame off the wall

Lift a frame with one hand on each side. Lifting by the top edge alone pulls on the corner joints, and lifting by the wire can pull a fixing out of the wood. Ask a second person to help with a large frame. Lay the frame face up on a towel or a blanket, on a table that is larger than the frame.

A large painting is a job for two people. Breaking Certainty, an oil on canvas of a wooden cube with landscapes painted on two sides, is 100 by 120 cm, a size to take off the wall with a second person.

Where it hangs

• Sun. Direct sun fades paper, photographs, textiles and signatures. UV glazing slows this, and a shaded wall slows it more. See UV glass and glazing.
• Heat. A wall above a radiator, a heating vent or a working fireplace dries paper and wood, and warm air carries dust and soot upward onto the frame.
• Damp. Kitchens and bathrooms fill with steam, and paper ripples in damp air. Our guide to framing art for kitchens and bathrooms covers what can hang there.
• Outside walls. A cold outside wall can leave the back of a frame damp. Small bumpers, soft pads on the bottom corners of the back, hold the frame off the wall so air can move behind it.

A check once a year

Once a year, take each frame down and look at the front and the back.

• The hanging wire and fixings. Replace a frayed wire or a loose fixing before it fails. Our guide to hanging hardware shows the types.
• The paper across the back. Many frames have a sheet of paper sealed across the back to keep dust and insects out. A torn sheet lets both in.
• The inside of the glazing. Look for specks of dust, small insects, a grey haze or drops of moisture.
• The picture. Look for new ripples in the paper, a brown line along the edge of the mat, small brown spots, or colour that has faded.
• The corners of the frame. A gap at a corner means a joint has opened.

When to have the frame opened

Leave the back closed at home. The back of a frame is closed to keep dust out, and opening it lets dust in and can shift the picture. Take the frame to a framer when you see moisture or haze inside the glazing, a brown line or brown spots on the paper, new ripples, insects inside, or a picture that has slipped. A framer can open the frame, find the cause and replace the part that failed: the mat, the backing, the glazing or the seal.

What care cannot undo

Colour that has faded stays faded, and a brown stain from an acidic mat stays in the paper. Care stops both from getting worse. A faded picture can move to a shaded wall and UV glazing, and an acidic mat can be replaced with an acid-free one, as our guide to acid-free mats and backing explains.

The routine in one table

At our own workshop, the reframing service page describes what happens when a frame is opened, and glass replacement covers a cracked or scratched sheet.