Gallery Systems

What is a Traditional Picture Rail?

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While kings, queens and clergy have had paintings or tapestries hanging on the walls of their
castle, palace or cathedrals, it wasn’t until the growing prosperity of the middle 18th century in
Great Britain when this habit became more common amongst average people.
As more and more people joined the upper middle class during the Victorian period, the size
and quality of housing improved rapidly. Purchasing art and displaying it in your home became
a popular way to demonstrate your good breeding, financial capacity and good taste. Paintings,
etchings, needlework, mirrors and plates were all hung from walls – and they were hung using
picture rails, a horizontal molding of wood attached to the wall around a room above eye
height.
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Picture rails or picture moldings became common in newly built houses (or as additions to
old homes) around the 1840s. The artwork hung from a moveable hook that was hung
over the picture rail. This was a good way to hang art. The picture rail could hold pictures
and frames of substantial weight. The art could easily be repositioned - by a few
millimeters or a few rooms. And there was no need to bang nails into walls, potentially
damaging the expensive plastering.
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As time passed, the ceilings in modern homes became much lower. By the art deco period of
the 1920s and 1930s the picture rail was mounted a few centimetres from the ceiling.
Sadly, many of these wonderful period features have been destroyed over the decades as
homes have been renovated.
So, if You Own an Older Home (Or Office Space) With a Traditional Picture Rail, Can You
Still Use it? Should You?
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The answer is yes. They look wonderful in an appropriate space. These picture rails are
usually very sturdy and can hold heavy weights. And now can now purchase modern hooks
and hangers which complement the look of your traditional picture rail but give you the
advantages of a 21st century product.
The leaders in picture hanging systems in Australia, Gallery Systems, provide a Traditional
Picture Rail Hook System. For decades Gallery Systems has manufactured high quality
picture hanging systems which are used around the world, chosen by organisations such as
Harvard University, Yale University, Apple and Microsoft.
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The Gallery Systems Traditional Picture Rail Hook System features solid brass or stainless steel
picture rail hooks, which give you the classic, traditional look. These are then combined with thin
stainless steel cable or transparent Clearline Hangers and adjustable hooks, giving you all the security
of a modern art hanging system.
The improved design of the Gallery Systems picture rail hook positions the stainless cable much
closer to the wall. This allows the painting or photograph to sit at the proper angle, rather than leaning
too far forward, as is often the case with other traditional picture rail
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systems. (If you find that your pictures are still leaning too far forward, you can try the
new HangRight Clips. These clips will work with Traditional Picture Rail hangers. The
HangRight Clips bring your art back closer to the wall for a professional display every
time.
The Traditional Picture Rail System comes with a pack of five picture rail hooks in either
solid brass or stainless steel. The pack is sold with five 2-metre stainless steel cables or
five 2-metre Clearline Hangers.
Adjustable Hooks which thread onto the hangers are sold separately. There is a choice of
standard Alan Key Hooks (to suit Clearline or Stainless Cable hangers) or Gallery Push-
Button Hooks (only suitable for Stainless cable hangers).
So, if your castle, palace or cathedral – or just your home or office space - features the
classic late 19th/early 20th century traditional picture rails, lean into it and make the most
of these fantastic architectural features to show off your collection of paintings or
photography.
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