GUIDE
What is gold leaf painting
In gold leaf painting real metal lies beneath the paint, so the light passes through the oil layer and strikes gold.
The difference from gold paint is not a detail for specialists. Gold paint contains metal pigment and shines evenly. Gold leaf is a continuous metal surface and responds to every change in the light.
The key points from this guide at a glance.
How thin gold leaf is
About one ten-thousandth of a millimetre.
A leaf tears in a draught and cannot be touched with the fingers. It is moved with a dry brush.
The build-up
Ground, size, gold leaf, then oil paint.
The metal goes on before the painting. Everything that happens afterwards only decides how much gold stays visible.
How to recognise real gold leaf
Gold paint looks the same from every side. A gilded surface shifts between bright and almost dark as you walk past.
Gold paint looks the same from every side. A gilded surface shifts between bright and almost dark as you walk past.
Gold leaf and silver leaf
The same technique, a different temperature.
Silver cools the colour above it, gold warms it. Silver oxidises slowly, and the oil layer slows that down.
What this means for the room
A wall with changing daylight shows more.
Under pure artificial light the effect stays flat. A single spot brings it back.
In short
Real metal under oil, laid by hand, responds to light.
All gold leaf works are made in the studio in Schindellegi.
More: Gold leaf painting · Silver leaf painting · Caring for oil paintings · Guide
