Super Glossary

Gold Ground

Lifestyle / Painting / Gold Ground: Many of the painters of the 15th and 16th centuries used grounds either covered or partially covered with gold-leaf. The underlying ground would be gesso. On top of this would be brushed a thin coating of a red earth, a bole, often the one termed Armenian. Next an adhesive was put down, this was often glair, which was egg white with a little water. Then the fragile thin gold-leaf would be picked up on a wide, soft, hair brush called a tip, and laid in position. Each sheet was normally given a lap of about tin (0'5 cm) over its neighbours. Before it was totally hardened, decorative work with patterned iron or steel dies could be done. When completely hardened an agate burnisher could bring up the desired sheen. The most suitable medium for working on the gold was tempera; oil could be used but with this there could arise adhesion problems. A number of the German school were particularly adept with the handling of this method. Stefan Lochner left some exquisite religious scenes, with his strong blues and deep crimsons reacting against the gold in a splendid manner. Another method of exploiting the richness of gold in a painting was worked through by Botticelli, notably with his 'Birth of Venus' when he brushed powdered gold into the hair of the figures. The extreme fragility of the gold-leaf is exemplified by Cennini when in It Libro dell' Alle he records that 145 leaves could be beaten from one ducat, enough to cover an area of about 70 sq ft (6 m2).
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