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Article: Choosing an Antique Painting for Above the Fireplace

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Choosing an Antique Painting for Above the Fireplace

At Versailles, the Hercules Room was finished in 1736. Paolo Veronese hangs above its fireplace.

Few mantels are a king's. The questions are the same. How wide, how high, which subject.

The Adoration of the Magi, Flemish, 17th century, in a gilt frame The kings A crowd of twelve presses toward the Child. The eldest king kneels in yellow. Framed 30 in wide, for a 40 to 45 in mantel
A girl feeding turkeys at the edge of an oak wood, Emile Michel, 1872, in a carved gilt frame The wood A girl and her turkeys at the edge of the oaks. The field opens to a low horizon. Framed 36 in wide, for a 48 to 54 in mantel
A hen with her chicks in a farmyard, a windmill beyond, Dutch School, about 1700 The yard A hen, her chicks, an earthenware pan. A windmill turns beyond the wall. Framed 38 in wide, for a 51 to 57 in mantel
Two tigers resting before a dark rock at dusk, French School, 19th century, in a gilt frame The long view Two tigers rest at dusk, laid low across a canvas almost twice as wide as it is tall. Framed 24 in high and 38 in wide

A painting above a fireplace is chosen by the mantel. Its framed width should span two thirds to three quarters of the shelf.

What Size Painting Goes Above a Fireplace

Measure the shelf first. The frame, not the canvas, is what has to fit.

The mantel shelf
Too small
Two thirds to three quarters
Too big
Mantel, then framed width, in inches
30 40 48 54 60 72
20-22 27-30 32-36 36-40 40-45 48-54
Hang it four to eight inches above the shelf, and count the candlesticks first.

Hang It, Stand It, or Hang It Beside

Four answers to the same wall.

A wide horizontal antique painting hung above a marble mantel, filling the chimney breast without reaching past the shelfHung, horizontalFollows the line of the shelf.
A tall composition in a gilt frame over a mantel, narrow for the shelf, carried by the height of the roomHung, verticalNarrow for the mantel, so it needs a tall wall.
A small moonlit landscape standing on the mantel shelf between two brass candelabraOn the shelfToo small to hang, right between two candelabra.
A small panel portrait hung at eye level beside a chimneypiece that already carries a tall overmantel mirrorBeside itA trumeau, the tall mirror in the paneling, already holds the wall above.

Room settings are photographic compositions made from the paintings themselves.

Which Antique Paintings Suit a Fireplace

A fireplace is where people sit and talk. The picture is seen from across the room.

A shepherd and his flock among haystacks, signed Guignard, in a gilt frameFirst choiceLandscape
A huntsman in a red coat with four hounds in an autumn wood, Lacroix, 1891SecondAnimal and sporting
A woman with a pearl necklace, French School, about 1840, in a carved gilt frameA decisionPortrait
Grapes and a carafe, signed Audra, in a gilt frameRarelyStill life

A still life is made to be seen close, a portrait takes over a sitting room. Above an open fire lit most evenings, leave air behind the frame.

Works citedPaolo Veronese, Eliezer and Rebecca. Château de Versailles, Hercules Room

Horizontal paintings for the fireplace wall

The Virgin and Child at the left, the eldest king kneeling in yellow, a crowd of twelve behind, Flemish, 17th century Adoration of the Magi, 1600s $7,900See the painting A girl in a blue skirt feeding a flock of turkeys in a shorn field at the edge of an oak wood, signed oil by Emile Michel dated 1872, in a carved gilt frame Émile MichelGirl with Turkeys, 1872 $6,700See the painting Dutch School farmyard painting of a hen with her chicks and an earthenware pan, a windmill beyond a ruined wall, oil on canvas in a moulded frame Hen and Chicks, circa 1700 $6,700See the painting Two tigers resting before a dark rock at dusk, mid 19th century French oil on canvas in a gilt frame Two Tigers in a Landscape, 1800s $12,000See the painting
For sale
Horizontal Antique Paintings Horizontal Antique Paintings23 paintingsBrowse the collection
Keep reading Related guideReading the Frame on an Antique Painting Related guideThe Barbizon School in Painting Every guide, by subject

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Photographs and descriptions of the paintings in our collection by GalerieClub Fine Art.