The Use of Gold

Gold or Silver?

Both gold and silver are listed as materials used in the painting. However, there is no visible silver, which might mean that this is an example of vermeil coating or yellow glazing. Vermeil coating is a thinly applied layer of gold over silver gilding, and yellow glazing is the application of a yellow color stain on silver. This was done to save money because gold was and still is an expensive material. [1] In looking at other images of gilding by Niccolo di Pietro Gerini, most prominently the “Baptism Altarpiece,” the color of the gold in “Scourging of the Four Crowned Martyrs” appears to be more yellow than in other panels.

 

Gilding Techniques

Water gilding and mordant gilding are two techniques which were commonly used in trecento Italian panel painting. [2] Water gilding utilizes bole, a kaolinite clay-based underlying layer, and burnishing of goldleaf to produce a brilliant finish, while mordant gilding is oil based and produces a matte finish because burnishing is not possible. [3] Therefore, when looking at this panel it is clear that water gilding was used in the gold background and on the halos of the martyrs. However, mordant gilding may have been used as decoration on the red garment of the Roman official Lampadius. [4]

 

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Detail of halos in "Scourging of the Four Crowned Martyrs"

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Detail of halo in Gerini's "Baptism Altarpiece"

Tooled Gold

The gold leaf in the background of the panel was applied as a sheet, but the metal used for the halos of the four martyrs was tooled using several sharp small tools which leave various indentation on the surface of the gold. Although nothing has been written about the tooling in “Scourging of the Four Crowned Martyrs” specifically, the detailed account of the techniques used in the “Baptism Altarpiece.” [5] It is evident that the smaller marks around the edges of each halo, meant to create a shimmering effect, are in a stipple pattern. In this technique numerous tiny points create a texture in the metal. [6] The larger marks, creating the central arc of each halo, were presumably made using a punch, a tool which leaves an impression on the goldleaf as a result of a sharp end shaped as a figure. [7] In this case the figure is a simple circle.

 

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1. Folda, Jaroslav, and Lucy Wrapson. Byzantine Art and Italian Panel Painting: The Virgin and Child Hodegetria and the Art of Chrysography. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 2015. Print.

2. Folda, Jaroslav, and Lucy Wrapson. Byzantine Art and Italian Panel Painting: The Virgin and Child Hodegetria and the Art of Chrysography. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 2015. Print.

3.New, Britta. “Niccolò Di Pietro Gerini's ‘Baptism Altarpiece’: Technique, Conservation and Original Design.” National Gallery Technical Bulletin, vol. 33, 2012, pp. 27–49.

4. "Scourging of the Four Crowned Martyrs." Philadelphia Museum of Art. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.

5. New, Britta. “Niccolò Di Pietro Gerini's ‘Baptism Altarpiece’: Technique, Conservation and Original Design.” National Gallery Technical Bulletin, vol. 33, 2012, pp. 27–49.

6. Passeri, Irma. "Gold Coins and Gold Leaf in Early Italian Paintings." The Matter of Art: Materials, Practices, Cultural Logics, C.1250-1750. By Christy Anderson, Anne Dunlop, and Pamela H. Smith. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2015. 97-118. Print.

7. Billinge, Rachel, and Gordon, Dillian. "The Use of Gilded Tin in Giotto's." National Gallery Technical Bulletin 29 (2008). Web.

The Use of Gold