The Art Gallery of Ontario is home to North America's largest museum collection of historic picture frames, and this autumn it is giving the frames themselves the spotlight. Opening on 17 October 2026, In Plain Sight: Highlights from the AGO's Collection of Historic Frames presents 31 frames dating from the 15th to early 20th centuries, made in England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. Co-curated by Eric Birkle, the AGO's Marie Zimmermann Curatorial Fellow in European Art, Julia Campbell-Such, the AGO's assistant conservator for frames, and associate curator of European art Adam Harris Levine, the exhibition is installed in the stately Leonard Rotunda and presents the frames boldly without pictures, organised by period and regional style. The display spans Renaissance, Gothic Revival, Baroque, Rococo and Louis XIV Revival artistry, with materials including wood, rare polished stone, ebony, copper alloys, papier-mache and gold leaf, and techniques from refined carving and punchwork to trompe l'oeil finishes where wood was polished to resemble marble. Among the highlights is an 18th-century frame by Mattheus Kugler and Joseph Diebal, framers hired by the Court of Elector Augustus III of Poland for a multi-year project harmonising the Dresden Royal Court collection, identifiable by its signature, rich gilding and ornamented corners. Also on view for the first time since its acquisition is a monumental 17th-century wood and gilded frame by English craftswoman Mary Ashfield, the largest frame in the AGO's collection, commissioned by the City of London in 1671. Since the mid-1990s, when the AGO received an anonymous gift of more than 800 historical picture frames, it has become a leader in the collection and care of frames, and it is the only museum in Canada whose conservation team includes a dedicated frames conservator. Two historic frames will go on view at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin in December, accompanying their paintings. On view through November 2027, admission is free for Ontarians under 25, Indigenous peoples, members and annual passholders.