Framing Guide for Canvas and Paper Prints
We can frame your print and send it ready to hang, or ship it rolled for your own framer - framing is always optional. This guide explains how we frame canvas and paper prints, what a liner or a mat adds, and how to choose a frame for an old master painting.
A frame does two jobs: it protects the print, and it connects the painting with the room. Choosing one is a matter of balance - between the frame and the size of the print, between the painting and its interior, and between the period of the painting and your own taste.
Rolled, stretched or framed
You choose how your print arrives in the Frame tab of the product page:
- Rolled: unframed, in a protective tube, with 1.2 in of blank canvas or white paper on every side, so your framer can stretch or mount it.
- Stretched, canvas only: on stretcher bars, without a picture frame, with a cord for hanging. Planning to use a frame you already own? Read our guide first: the measurements must be exact, and we confirm such orders individually.
- Framed: stretched, or mounted behind acrylic glass, in a frame built to your size, with a hanging system attached.
Stretched and framed prints are available while the long side of the print is no more than 28", a limit set by the couriers. If your size is larger, move the size slider down and the frames become available. Larger prints ship rolled, ready for your local framer.
How we frame a canvas print
We stretch the canvas on stretcher bars, apply a UV-protective varnish, build the frame to your size and attach a hanging system. Canvas is framed without glass, as paintings are, so the texture of the canvas and the depth of the colors stay visible. When you see an oil painting behind glass in a museum, the glass protects it from crowds of visitors; the painters themselves did not glaze their canvases.
With a liner
On canvas, the mat is a liner: a narrow profile of solid wood or polystyrene that sits inside the frame, between the frame and the canvas. It gives the image a quiet margin and adds depth, and it is optional. On the product page, liners are in the Mat tab, which appears once you have chosen a frame.
A liner also makes the framed piece larger, by twice its width in each direction. That helps when a painting is small in its original size, or when your wall needs a larger piece than the print alone would give.
Without a liner
Many paintings in museums hang in their frames without a liner: the frame meets the canvas directly, the classic look of a painting in its period frame. It keeps the attention on the image and suits larger prints and detailed compositions.
How we frame a print on paper
We build the frame to your size, mount the print behind acrylic glass and attach a hanging system. Acrylic glass is light and clear, and unlike glass it cannot shatter in transit. If you prefer real glass, any local framer can swap it easily and at little cost, and for smaller prints we can fit glass on request.
On paper, the mat (passepartout) is a cardboard border cut around the image. It gives the picture room to breathe and keeps the print away from the acrylic glass. Like the liner, it is optional and adds twice its width to the framed size.
Choosing a frame
Our frames come from European manufacturers, in wood or durable polystyrene, and range from slim, plain profiles to wide, ornate gilded ones. Each product page lists the frames available for that print, with the width of each profile.
Many old master paintings hang in museums in gilded period frames. An ornate gold profile echoes that look, while a slim, plain profile gives the same painting a quieter, modern setting. A larger print can carry a wider frame.
When you choose a frame or a mat, the preview on the product page shows it around the painting to scale, and the price and the Framed Size in Your Selection update at once.
Production, delivery and returns
Rolled prints ship within 2 workdays, stretched and framed prints within 7 to 8. Stretched and framed prints travel in a cardboard box with corner protectors.
Stretcher bars and frames are cut and built to your size, so stretched and framed prints are not part of our 30-day returns. If one arrives damaged, we replace it - see our return policy.
Why we do not offer gallery wrap
A gallery wrap is a canvas on stretcher bars with the image, or a plain color, continued around the edges and hung without a frame. It is a low-cost finish that can suit modern work, but it does not do justice to an old master painting: museums and galleries show these paintings framed. For that reason we do not offer it. Our Stretched option is meant for a frame of your own. More in our article on gallery wrap.
Not sure which frame suits your print? Write to us and we will help you choose.