People have been dressing in gold for millennia as a sign of wealth and prestige so it’s
no surprise that we find numerous examples here at the Gallery.
But it’s not just clothing, it’s also accessories, jewellery, fans also made out of gold.
As art historians we’re interested in how painters, particularly great portrait artists
like van Dyck managed to capture the light and reflectivity of gold using oil paint as
opposed to gold leaf as was used in earlier centuries.
And through these very paintings we get a wonderful insight into the history of costume
over time.
So this is a portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan by Giovanni Bellini.
The Doge is the elected ruler of Venice and we can tell it’s the Doge by his very particular
outfit, especially this horned hat known as a corno that he’s wearing.
Now he’s an elected leader and not a king, so he’s not wearing a crown, but you’ll
notice this very fine band of gold that goes around his head to make sure he’s just as
distinguished as any king.
This is very finely painted by Bellini who’s a real master with oil paint that allows him
to capture real fine detail and a real sense of reflection and shine coming off these fabrics.
If you look closely you’ll see in places it looks like each golden thread has been
painted individually by Bellini.
The Victoria & Albert Museum is the world’s leading museum of art and design.
It holds a collection of over two million objects reflecting 5000 years of human creativity.
One of the museum’s most significant collections is the textiles and fashion collection which
is unparallelled in its range and in its size and holds the most significant examples of design.
These are often precious and rare and as a result are often decorated with gold.
Kirsty, this hat is so similar to the one in our painting.
It really is, it’s an incredibly rare surviving example of a late seventeenth century Doge’s hat.
What’s quite interesting about it is it would’ve been worn over the top of a linen
cloth and these were made for the Doge by the nuns of the San Zaccaria convent in Venice
every Easter.
What fabric is being used here?
For the fabric we have a gold silk damask that covers the top and then around the edging
we’ve got gold braid.
So there’s actually gold in this?
Absolutely, so it’s a very, very time intensive technique and it would have been available
only to the richest members of society and the most powerful.
I’m also struck by how similar this fabric is to the mantle that the Doge is wearing
in our painting.
It really shows off these fantastic motifs and it’s a golden silk damask.
From the early 1200s Venice was one of the main silk producing centres in Italy.
As a Doge it does seem very likely that he’d be wearing a silk produced in Venice itself.
At The National Gallery we’ve got a painting by van Dyck of 1619-20 showing Saint Ambrose
barring Emperor Theodosius from Milan Cathedral and even though Saint Ambrose was a fourth
century bishop he’s shown in a fabric not dissimilar to this.
So what we’re looking at here is a late fifteenth century chasuble, and the fabric
that we’re seeing is velvet embroidered with gold and this was a hugely time intensive
and indeed very, very expensive technique.
So what’s interesting is that although the velvet was woven in Italy, the religious imagery
that we see was actually woven in Germany.
Is it usual for there to be this much gold in ecclesiastical garments?
It was a symbol of power or divinity or indeed to stand out in a crowd, you often find that
ecclesiastical garments have a huge amount of gold embroidery on them.
In Rembrandt’s 'Belshazzar’s Feast' we see Belshazzar, the King of Babylon, giving a
sumptuous banquet for his lords.
We see him in the centre dripping in gold, he has a bejewelled gold crown teetering above
his turban, he’s wearing a wonderful gold brocaded cape which is painted so luxuriously
by Rembrandt.
We also see his guests drinking out of golden goblets.
But here’s the catch: this gold has been stolen from the temple of Jerusalem by Belshazzar’s
predecessor Nebuchadnezzar. The writing in Hebrew that we see on the wall
is the word of God telling Belshazzar that he has been weighed in the balance and found
wanting, and that his kingdom is about to come to an end.
So in this painting we see that gold is not always a good thing and that greed gets punished.
This portrait of a lady known as 'The Lady in Red' by Moroni dates from the second half
of the 1550’s. It’s particularly famous for this exquisite red dress which would have
been inordinately expensive and is wonderfully fashionable as well.
But it’s set off by wonderful golden accessories.
There’s a gold trim on the dress itself but she’s also wearing some gold jewellery.
If you look in her hair you’ll note that even though her hair itself is golden, you
can just about make out that she’s got some wonderful jewellery set off with emeralds.
On her wrists she’s wearing golden bracelets, and even gold rings on her fingers.
She also holds a golden fan on her lap, but strangely she’s covering up the handle which
would have been the most sumptuous, the most luxurious part of it.
One possible reason for her apparent modesty could be her concern for sumptuary laws which
controlled the consumption of luxury goods.
This is a portrait of Lord John Stuart and Lord Bernard Stuart, cousins of Charles I.
On the left we have John Stuart in gold and, one step down, his younger brother Bernard
in silver, and van Dyck has really captured the beautiful metallic qualities of these
fabrics and if we look at John’s doublet in the left you’ll see these very fine buttons
and embroidery, and also this beautiful cloak that he’s wrapped around himself with this
wonderful gold lining.
My favourite detail is the fringing here at the bottom of John’s breeches, which is
also in shimmering gold.
Fashions, like painting styles, change but by choosing golden fabric and accessories,
these artists and sitters have ensured that centuries later their memories still glisten
in the paintings at The National Gallery.