A gallery wall is one of the most impactful ways to display art and antique prints are perfect for it. Their varied sizes, subjects and tones lend themselves naturally to curated groupings. Here's how to do it well.
Start with a concept
Before you hang anything decide on a unifying theme. This gives the wall coherence without making it feel rigid. Good starting points:
- A single subject — all botanicals, all maps, all portraits.
- A period or style — 18th-century French engravings, Victorian natural history illustrations.
- A color palette — sepia and black-and-white only, or prints with a shared accent color.
- A mix with intention — varied subjects but consistent framing style.
Plan before you hang
The biggest mistake people make is going straight to the hammer. Instead:
- Lay all your prints on the floor first and experiment with arrangements
- Cut paper templates to the size of each frame and tape them to the wall with painter's tape.
- Step back and live with the layout for a day before committing
- Aim for roughly equal spacing between frames — 5 to 8 cm is a good rule of thumb
Choose your frames wisely
Consistent framing is the easiest way to create a cohesive gallery wall. Options that work well with antique prints:
-
All matching frames — creates a clean, museum-like effect
- Same color, different styles — a little more relaxed but still unified
- Mixed frames — works if the prints themselves share a strong common thread (subject or palette)
Avoid mixing too many frame colors and styles at once — it can make the wall feel chaotic rather than curated.
Get the proportions right
- Anchor the arrangement with one or two larger prints and build around them
- Mix portrait and landscape orientations for visual rhythm
- Keep the overall shape of the grouping relatively geometric — a rectangle or loose grid reads better than a scattered arrangement
- The center of the gallery wall should sit roughly at eye level (around 145–150 cm from the floor)
The finishing touches
- Use picture hanging strips for lighter frames to avoid damaging walls.
- Add a small botanical sprig, a ceramic object or a small shelf within the arrangement to break up the flatness.
- Good lighting makes an enormous difference. A picture light or directed spotlight transforms a gallery wall.
A note on antique prints specifically
Antique prints often have natural variations in paper tone, foxing or margin size. Rather than hiding these embrace them as they're part of the charm. A slightly yellowed margin next to a crisp white mat tells a story that no reproduction can.
And here's an example from one of my customers, incorporating a French Vintage basset hound dog print into her memorial wall. Isn't it gorgeous? 