This photograph is 60 inches long by 16 inches wide. It is a copy in
brown tones of a classic painting by Otto Kneille--_The Education of
Athenian Youth_, the original of which hangs in the Royal Gymnasium in
Berlin. It represents a spacious hall or court showing three of the
large marble columns and a massive seat in which an old man reclines
while another old man is expounding some doctrine to him and to a
group of younger men gathered around. In the centre of the scene a boy
lies flat upon the pavement reading a manuscript. Near him several
youths under the direction of a master, are contending in feats of
strength. The composition is one that suggests weight and power. It
may appropriately hang in the hall or in the library over a wide, low
bookcase.
A picture of this character needs no mat and must have a wide, heavy
frame. The stock chosen was oak, 4 inches wide, 1-1/2 inches thick,
and flat faced. The size and weight of such a frame, including the
glass, demand firmness of construction as the first consideration.
The stock is too wide for successful mitring because shrinking would
naturally open and weaken such joints. It was therefore framed together
with mortise and tenon joints, well glued. A dowelled joint might
have sufficed, but it would not have the same strength. The mortises
were cut in the vertical ends and the tenons were left on the long
horizontal pieces. This was in conformity with the usual method of
joining framework--for example, door frames, window frames, panel
frames, and other interior woodwork; for the greatest possible length
is invariably given to the vertical parts.
The frame was given a dark brown finish, repeating the darkest tones of
the picture. Long screw eyes were fastened to the back 2 inches from
the top, so that the picture might hang nearly flat against the wall.
A strong braided wire about 75 inches long was run through the eyes
and securely looped at each end, so that a little more than an inch
of wire on each side passed through the eyes. Since the picture was to
have a prominent place on a certain wall, two nails 66 inches apart
allowing for the two widths of the frame as well as for the length of
the picture were driven into this wall, and the heavy photograph was
easily hung and balanced without exposing the wire to view.