Get to know more about collecting gold-backed artworks
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Artworks on golden backgrounds dates back to a tradition that developed in religious centers across Europe, particularly Florence and Siena, and brought a supernatural richness to early Renaissance Italian art.
The term "gilding" is commonly used to describe the religious panels made in Italy in the late Middle Ages. Gold artwork is technically any artwork with a gold background. Paintings, mosaics and illuminated manuscripts have been overlaid with gold for at least 1,500 years.
However, the term is often used by art historians to describe images of the Virgin Mary, Christ and saints on gold-covered wooden panels between the second half of the 13th and early 15th centuries.
These are mostly works of Italian origin, with some coming from France, Spain and other parts of central and southern Europe. Florence and Siena were the two main centers of production, but other republics and kingdoms such as Genoa, Venice and Naples also had their schools.
Madonna and Child with two angels by Barnaba Agocchiari (c. 1328/30-c. 1386),
also known as Barnaba da Modena. Tempera on a gold-backed panel 18⅞ x 13⅝ in (48 x 34.5 cm).
From individual paintings to multi-panel works
Gold-backed artworks come in a all shapes and sizes and have been used for both private and public worship. Some works on a gold background are small square paintings on a single panel, depicting the Madonna and Child in a pose known as "Hodigitria". This means how Mary's hand signals that Jesus, resting on her lap, is the Savior of mankind.
The painting was particularly prized in Siena by the burgeoning Franciscan order, founded in 1209 who believed the Virgin could protect the city from plague, drought and war. The faithful of Siena offered him portraits hung in chapels or candles lit in front of panels painted on street corners.
Giovanni del Biondo (Florence, active 1356-1399),
Two panels from a polyptych: Saint John the Evangelist, with Saint Margaret above; and Saint Bartholomew, with Saint Catherine of Alexandria above.
Other works may have as many as 20 interlocking panels with gold backgrounds set in ornate frames decorated with buttresses, pilasters and battlements reflecting Romanesque and Gothic architecture. These structures can have a width and height of more than three meters.
These intricate works, often narrating the life of Christ or some saint, were placed on altars so that the clergy could use them as teaching tools to revive the scriptures and explain the moral teachings of the majority of the illiterate.
Between Byzantine traditions and Renaissance revisions
Painting on a gold background was inspired by Byzantine art, but also laid the foundations for the Renaissance.
Gold, like no other color, has the ability to emit a warm and dazzling light. And watched by the flickering flame of a candle, gold sparkles with life. For this reason, Christian artists have used gold to represent divinity since at least the 6th century. The golden background of Byzantine icons is a sacred stage for the subject's message.
After the sack of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in 1204 by the Knights of the Fourth Crusade, many icons were taken to Italy as booty. Soon after, Italian artists began to adopt their designs, styles, and materials.
Guido di Piero, Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, posthumously known as Fra Angelico
(near Vicchio, circa 1395/1400-1455 Rome), The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Baptist and the Magdalene.
At the same time, these artists break with the Byzantine tradition of rigid, flat, linear figures. Instead, they used midtones to add volume and shadows to create depth. They also added psychological depth to their silhouettes. facial expressions and used complex compositions and architectural references to create a narrative.
These principles became the basis of Renaissance art.
The painter as craftsman - and also as part of a team
Painting on a golden background was created by teams of specialized craftsmen. One of them began sawing and planing a plank of dry wood, mostly poplar. This board was then covered with a layer of gypsum, a mixture of gypsum and animal skin glue.
The original design was then sketched in charcoal on the surface of the plate and then the outline was cut out with a scalpel. A layer of red-brown clay called "Bolo" was then applied around the incised lines. This layer acted as a primer and gave the gold a deep, rich color.
The gold leaf, obtained from melted coins and then ground into very thin sheets of about five centimeters square, was then carefully applied to the trunk with a brush.
ASSOCIATED WITH AMBROGIO LORENZETTI (SIENA 1285⁄90-1348)
The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist
The gold has been polished and polished to a smooth, shiny surface. Patterns of small holes are then drilled with sharp tools. These holes are usually in the halos surrounding characters and at the edges of the image. They give structure to the panel surface and influence light reflection. Each studio usually has its own signature.
In the final step, the painter applies tempera, a mixture of pigments and a binder, usually egg yolk, to the painting.
Artists to know: from Cimabue to Daddi
These painters were considered artisans rather than the free and independent artists whose names appeared in the Renaissance. As a result, their identity was often not recorded.
That doesn't mean they weren't generously rewarded. In 1308, when a worker was earning 20 to 25 florins a year, the city of Siena paid Duccio di Buoninsegna 3,000 florins to have the Maestà, the altarpiece in the cathedral, painted.
Today, the works of anonymous artists are grouped by specialists according to stylistic characteristics, such as the treatment of hair and hands, or the way the folds of the robe are represented. It is then given a name in reference to a notable work - often a series of frescoes on the walls of a church - such as Master of the Baptistery of Parma.
BERNARDO DADDI (ACTIVE IN FLORENCE, C. 1318-1348)
Saints Lucy and Catherine of Alexandria: Predella panel from the altarpiece of S. Giorgio a Ruballa
However, the names of some of the more influential painters have been recorded. The progenitor of the gold background tradition in Italy is the Florentine Cimabue (ca. 1240-1302). He was succeeded by Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1255-1260-ca.1318–1319) and Giotto di Bondone (ca. 1267–1337), active in Florence and pupil of Ciambue.
Duccio's heirs in Siena were the Lorenzetti brothers Pietro (c.1280-1348) and Ambrogio (c.1290-1348), and Simone Martini (c.1284-1344). In Florence, Giotto's heirs are Andrea di Cione di Orcagna (c. 1308-1368) and Bernardo Daddi (c. 1280-1348).
Most of the masterpieces of gold painting were created by these eight artists.
The discovery of oil painting and the end of an era
The popularity of gold ground painting ended with the development of oil paint and canvas. These materials have opened up new avenues of expression for artists.
With oil paints, for example, they could create thin, almost transparent layers of paint, so-called glazes, or thick, creamy, dense areas of color, so-called impasto. It also offered them an infinite range of tones and shades and, unlike gouache, the freedom to change their minds and rework parts of the image.
MASTER OF THE WALLRAF TRIPTYCH (ACTIVE CIRCA 1360)
The Wallraf triptych: central panel: The Virgin and Child with Saints Clare and Francis, and a Clarisse donor, with the Annunciation above; left wing: The Nativity, The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, The Last Supper with a holy pontiff and Christ on the way to Calvary; right wing: The Flagellation, The Crucifixion, The Pietà and The Last Judgment.
The birth of linear perspective, often attributed to Masaccio's Holy Trinity fresco, painted around 1428 in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, also gave artists a powerful new tool to bring Catholic dogma to life.
What collectors are looking for
Collectors of medieval Italian gold-ground artworks tend to focus on quality and condition. A reliable attribution and historical provenance also make the work popular.
Complete altarpieces are rare and highly prized. Over the centuries many have been divided into several plots for sale.
Since the advent of gold leaf art, many artists have worked with gold leaf: Rembrandt and Klimt are two of my favorite old masters who used gold leaf in their paintings. Rembrandt was known for applying gold flakes to the surface of copper foil and then painting the gold surface with oil. His paintings had a light, luminous quality, with patches of shimmering gold in places. Austrian artist Gustav Klimt is widely known for the brilliant and glittering works of art he created during his "golden period".
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Gustav Klimt, 1907 (Oil and gold leaf on canvas)
So, what do you think of this technique? Do you have a favorite work of art on a gold background?
