Dear Friends...
Happy February from the Pacific Northwest, and truly warm wishes to those of you back East! I hope this issue finds you all well.
  
This month I have added a new class to a growing schedule, one that has been requested for a number of years - Dutch Black Frames. Inspired by the continued popularity of Dutch Black for portraits and landscapes and for the flexibility of my new studio at Gasworks Gallery, I have decided that the time had come to offer an entire day to explore this beautiful, classic finish with those seeking to deepen their knowledge of historical finishes for frames.

Dutch Black is synonymous with 17th c Holland although many of the frames were actually produced in Germany. The technique we use is based upon an approach popularized by 20th c American Framemaker Robert Kulick. As the former editor of the International Journal of the Society of Gilders, I was pleased to publish an article in 2008 by friend and colleague Michael Kulicke describing the method layed out by his father which captures the complex tonality of this wonderful historical finish.

I hope many of you will be able to join us for this long anticipated class. You will also find that the combination of Dutch Black and mordant gilding with antiqued silver leaf makes for a beautiful pairing with particular frame profiles.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this month's question from the UK on green bole, a clay I particularly like, especially with use under 22.9kt French Versailles leaf which seems to carry a very slight tint of peach due to the percentage of silver and copper added to the gold in just the right proportions.

...wishing you joy, hope and clarity,

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Outside the studio for lunch, meditation, conversation.

Q.  I have a query about Green Bole.  I notice on your website that you say historically, different countries used different coloured boles under gilding. I have a softwood carved mirror frame which has green bole - have you any idea where it would have been made?  The frame is baroque in style and I feel that it may be eighteenth century or perhaps slightly earlier.

 ~ A. Cameron/UK

A. Thank you for your intriguing question. The role of clay bole in the practice of traditional water gilding and its use in helping to determine the origin of gilded frames and furniture is a compelling topic that can lead us on a journey through the centuries. Indeed, the choice of colored bole grounds can, in part, help us to determine where a gilded frame may have originated, although it is only one element that we look at.

As an underlying ground, clay bole is used in water gilding to influence the color of the gold or silver leaf that lays upon it and to offer a soft cushion for the leaf to be burnished, counteracting the hardness of the many layers of gesso underneath the clay. It is a ferruginous aluminum silicate, its color coming from the presence of iron oxides or from the addition of pigments ranging from red, yellow, orange, blue and brown to pink, purple, green, white, and grey. Bole may also be used in color combinations or mixed to achieve other tonal qualities.

As demonstrated in Italian Renaissance Frames at the V&A - A Technical Study (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2010, Christine Powell, Zoe Allen), a matt-textured clay is pigment-rich while smooth bole is clay-rich, which lends evidence to the grainy texture of certain colored clays such as green, blue, and brown versus the silky smooth texture of German red and yellow.

Italian Renaissance frames often show a bright orange-red bole, whereby early American frames made use of black, grey, and blue boles. A red over yellow
combination may often be found on 17^th and 18^th c French frames and furniture.

To date my research indicates a fairly strong use of green bole in early Italian gilding. As stated by Ceninni in his 15^th c treatise Il Libro dell'Arte (Thompson, 1960, Dover Press) "And know that the ancients never used to gild a panel except with this green." in his description of Terre-Verte, a natural earth color. As pointed out in Giotto to Durer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery (National Gallery, 1991, Jill Dunkerton), Giotto chose green earth rather than bole for The Pentecost and several other works.
 The choice of bole colors has varied between countries as well as between historical periods. Armenian Red was in use in Italy by 1300 but by 1400 a predilection toward black was seen.

 

Bole color is just one element to be considered in determining the origin of a frame and its age. Without the opportunity of viewing your frame I would say that the use of green bole is one indication of Italy as being its place of origin which may support your view of 19^th c Baroque. Other indicators of its origin and age would be in the fabrication of the wood frame, the species of wood, its joining technique, the frame style, and any identifying markings on the reverse of the frame.

 

Green bole does happen to be a favorite color of mine to gild with and it is especially attractive under 23kt gold leaf as well as 22.9kt Versailles leaf, fabricated by Dauvet in Paris. I purchase the green clay in lump form as shown in the accompanying photo of which I tumble with water and stones until it is a silky cream. It then requires further special attention to prepare it for gilding, likely due to the suspected high presence of pigment, but is well worth its use.

 

Thank you for writing!