Barrel painter
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A barrel painter (old expression staff painter ) is the name of a craftsman who does the setting , that is, the painting and gilding of wooden sculptures and only gives the carving their final appearance. In the 18th century, the French name Peintre-doreur ("painter's gilder") was also common in Germany.
Today's definition
Today gilders and barrel painters are two different professions that have a lot in common. Both complete the work of the sculptors and carvers with the application of paint. They embellish art and everyday objects with gold, silver and oil.
The gilder deals with gilding and silvering, marbling, graining, lacquering, matting of art and everyday objects made of wood, plaster, clay, plastic and metal. He is also familiar with the surfaces and profiles of components (including how they are treated and designed with colors) and with fonts.
The barrel painter takes care of the painting, oil gilding and oil silvering of various sculptures, art and everyday objects made of wood, plaster of paris, clay and plastic. Gilders and barrel painters belong to the arts and crafts profession.
history
In Gothic carving, wood was left without a colored frame only in rare exceptional cases. B. the choice of colors for the clothing of the statues of saints was based on ancient tradition. The color versions of the Middle Ages had the task of dematerializing the work of art as an object of adoration and devotion and giving it an unearthly shine.
Until the beginning of the late Gothic period , the sculptors were mostly made by the sculptors themselves. Later, up to and including the Rococo , special barrel painters were active. They also equipped the wings of the convertible altars with panel paintings, but were not allowed to create any carving works due to the strict guild rules of the time. Then the sculptors took over the setting again. From old invoices it can be seen that the barrel painters received higher amounts than the sculptors, from which it was sometimes concluded that the barrel painters were more respected. The reason for this was probably mainly the expensive material bought in from the barrel painters: the expensive pigments as well as gold leaf and powder gold had to be factored into the price.
Due to the development of altar architecture in Val Gardena in the second half of the 19th century , numerous barrel painters were and are still active there today.
The technique of gothic paint and gilding
The Gothic color version was built up from the wooden core in several work steps. The first thing to do was to apply a chalk base to the wood, without which you would not get a usable layer of paint for the tempera paints. After this was smoothed and sanded, the colors were applied or the gilding was carried out.
In the case of the latter, the so-called bolus (pigment) , a layer of red ocher that gave the gold its reddish tone, was applied to the chalk base, which also covered the sculptural ornaments carved from the linden wood and, when wet, formed the adhesive base for the gold. Then you carefully put the wafer-thin gold leaf on top . After polishing with an agate , the so-called poliment gilding was finished.
Well-known barrel painters
A well-known barrel painter was Gabriel Mälesskircher , who worked for Erasmus Grasser , among others . Sometimes well-known artists were hired as barrel painters, such as the painters Jan van Eyck (1390–1441) and Hans Baldung , known as Grien (1484 / 85–1545). Johann von der Leyten worked as a barrel painter for the so-called family altar and the Elisabeth altar from around 1513 and as a painter of the wing paintings in the Marburg Elisabethkirche .
Unmounted works, mostly carvings made of boxwood, only became common in the Renaissance . The first unmounted sculptures are said to have been made by Tilman Riemenschneider (around 1460–1531).
See also
- Jan van Wavere († 1521/1522), barrel painter of late Gothic reredos .
literature
- Reclam's Handbook of Artistic Techniques. 3 volumes. Reclam, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-15-030015-0 .
- Ulrich Schießl : Baroque and Rococo barrel painting techniques. ... that everything seems to be made of bronze. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1983, ISBN 3-88462-013-4 .