A framed picture has a fragile face, brittle corners and often a heavy frame. Each of those weak points needs its own protection, and the box has to be rigid enough that nothing presses on the face. The same ideas that museums use apply to a family portrait or a signed print.
Protect the face first
Lay a sheet of glassine or clean, unprinted paper over the glass or canvas. Packing paper with ink can transfer to a print, and bubble wrap placed straight on an oil painting can leave a pattern in the surface.
For glass, apply painter's tape in a star across the pane. If the glass cracks, the tape keeps the pieces in place instead of scratching the artwork.
Pad the corners and the frame
Corners take most knocks. Slide cardboard corner guards over each corner, or build your own from folded cardboard, then wrap the whole frame in bubble wrap or a moving pad.
Large pieces travel in a mirror or picture box, a flat telescoping carton built for the job. A telescoping box adjusts to the width of the piece and keeps the weight off the glass.
- Cover the face with clean paper.
- Tape the glass in a star pattern.
- Fit the corner guards.
- Wrap the frame in bubble wrap or a pad, with the bubbles facing out.
- Slide the piece into a picture box and mark it Fragile, This Side Up.
Store and carry artwork upright
Pack pictures on their edges, like records in a crate, rather than flat. Flat stacking puts the weight of one frame on another's glass.
Never lay a heavy item against a canvas in the truck. Your estimator will note any art on the written estimate so the crew plans a place for it.
Valuable and unusual pieces
Original paintings, antique frames and sculpture need more than a box. The National Park Service Museum Handbook sets out how museums support, wrap and handle objects, and its principles scale down to a home move. For glass tabletops, large mirrors and pieces with gilt frames, ask about custom crating.
More on valuable collections is in fine art and antique moving.
Arriving at the new house
Unpack art soon after the move and leave it in its wrap until you have a place to hang it. Check humidity and temperature in the room before hanging a painting, because Reno winters are dry.