The trade of gilder wood
The job of Gilder can be divided into two categories, if the Gilder displays his art giving luster to an object, the Restorer will care to be discreet, to intervene sporadically with discernment, to be able to appreciate and leave the traces of time not alteratives beyond measure readability of the object to maintain the historical integrity, not "invent".
The major activities of the gilder wood has to make are :
- Manufacturing-reproduction: Copying old, moldings, creation.
- Conservation and restoration: repair work.
- Gilding: can be applied on various substrates such as wood (frames, seats), the staff (decor ceilings, cornice), metal, bronze ...
The realization of a gilding involves several key steps: primers, the reparure, gilding and finishes, knowing that the wood gilding said : "Distemper" (water) may require up to twenty different stages.
It will readily understood, water gilding preparatory work are numerous and delicate.They determine the beauty of the final result. Now enter a little more in detail.
History of gilding
Sarcophagus of an Egyptian king
The history of art dates back to Egyptian times, from 2250 BC already using gold leaf on sarcophagi and other objects of the time, and gilding using primers identical to those made today.
Gold has been known since antiquity, we find particular liturgical works covering the Mayan deities, Egyptian or reflecting the sun's rays on the domes of Orthodox churches.
Its rarity, its incomparable brilliance and fastness have made a mythical material, sometimes attribute of perfection and divine illumination, sometimes symbol of power and wealth.
Louis XIV - King of France, Hyacinthe Rigaud work
However gilding wood reached its peak in the seventeenth and eighteenth century by the kings, princes and bourgeois who appropriate the aesthetic qualities of gold to decorate their homes. Thus the religious character is abandoned in favor of a decorative aesthetics.
Louis XIV ordered his furniture is made of gold. It was necessary to follow the mode of the king what has led the noble and the bourgeois to democratize the craft of spin doctor into the furniture (mirrors, frames, barometers, armchairs, chairs, consoles etc...). Thus the golden wood triumphed in churches but also in palaces and castles: picture frames and mirrors, consoles, seats, barometers, lamps, woodwork and coaches shine with incomparable brilliance.
Heirs of this tradition, most gilders today exercise their art in accordance with the ancient techniques. Among these techniques, gilding tempera holds a special place: it was she who gave the wood gilding and business gilder acclaim. Long and delicate, it is the only return in their finesse and freshness details of ornamentation carved and creating volume effects with alternating burnished (brightness) and mats.