Hallmarking (painting)

The nimbus of the Madonna was richly decorated with hallmarks.

During the hallmarking , the artist uses differently shaped metal pins ( hallmark , motif hallmark ) to press small, shiny indentations into a gold-plated surface ( gold background image ) .

development

In medieval panel painting, this technique was used to decorate nimbs , vestments, crowns and (rarely) the entire background. In individual examples, punctiform and ring-shaped hallmarks are proven as early as the 13th century. In the early 14th century, the hallmark displaced in Florence and Siena engraving .

The hallmarking was an important part of medieval panel painting on gilded or partially gilded panels. It was done by the artist before painting.

See also

• Hallmarking

literature

• Knut Nicolaus: Handbook of painting studies. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 2003. ISBN 3-8321-7288-2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Knut Nicolaus: DuMont's image lexicon for determining paintings . DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1982, ISBN 3-7701-1243-1 , p. 181 .