Il fondo oro e le tecniche di doratura

We often see 13th- and 14th-century paintings on wooden panels featuring gold backgrounds against which religious figures stand out. But how was that color achieved? The gold background wasn't a paint, but a very thin sheet of the precious metal, which was spread and adhered to the wooden support with a special glue. There were several techniques for decorating paintings with gilding, perhaps to highlight halos or other details. These included grattito, punching, pastiglia, or shell gold. I'll introduce these techniques to you with the help of some small paintings or sections of larger, dismembered polyptychs, housed at the Diocesan Museum of Milan and part of the Crespi Collection. 00:00 Mosaics and the gold background 00:52 What was it used for? 2:30 AM Painting on Panel 4:57 AM Preparing the Support 8:05 AM Veneering, Stucco, and Primer 10:33 AM Gilding the Panel 12:11 PM Overlaying Gold Leaf and Bole 1:41 PM Decoration Techniques: Graffito 3:24 PM Punching and Goldsmithing 5:32 PM Pastiglia Decoration 7:36 PM Shell Gold