In the early 19th century, picture frames were usually mass produced from cheap materials. In the late 1840's, artists (especially the Pre-Raphaelites began to experiment with frame design. Roberts provides a chronological history of the frames used by the Pre-Raphaelite artists Rossetti, Hunt, and Brown, pinpointing when they first used specific materials or designs. She discusses the frames provided for individual paintings, relating the forms and symbols of the frames to those of the paintings. -- AATA