Gold in the 14th-century and contemporary fine arts. An exhibition at the Salamon Gallery investigates this dialogue

The Salamon Gallery in Milan will present on the occasion of the exhibition Gold, 1320 - 2020. From the Masters of the Fourteenth Century to the Contemporary, a selection of works intended to illustrate theuse of gold in the figurative arts.

In the exhibition, which will be held at Milan’s Palazzo Cicogna from November 22, 2019 to January 31, 2020, works from the 14th and early 15th centuries, from the Giottesque tradition to International Gothic in Florence and Central Italy, and works by great Italian artists, such as Lucio Fontana, Maurizio Bottoni, and Paolo Londero, will be placed in dialogue with each other.

The exhibition aims to search two distant moments in Italian cultural history, the 14th century and the contemporary, for concrete signs of a single tradition, as well as to conduct a history of gold leaf in the arts.

The ancient works visible in the exhibition all refer back to the workshop model handed down by Cennino Cennini’s Libro dell’Arte, in which topics such as the centrality of drawing, recipes for the preparation of pigments, varieties of panels, and as many as twelve chapters on the gilding of panels are discussed. Artists who produced works with a gold background include Giovanni Gaddi, Andrea di Bonaiuto, Antonio Veneziano, the Master of the Coronation in the Christ Church Gallery, Oxford, Mariotto di Nardo, Ventura di Moro, and Giovanni Antonio da Pesaro.

However, aspects of the techniques used by the Old Masters were fundamental to the art of Lucio Fontana, whose 1960 Spatial Concept in Gold, Paolo Londero, and Maurizio Bottoni will be exhibited. By Londero is the Hen with Golden Eggs, while by Bottoni is a precious panel with a surrealist spirit, Oggi riposo, a digression on the theme of Vanitas.

For their study of materials and techniques, both Bottoni and Londero represent a conscious response to the proliferation of authors and currents; in particular, Bottoni was convinced that “painters have to speak with their hands.”

In this sense, the ancient and the modern will always be able to dialogue.

The exhibition is organized by Matteo Salamon of the Milan gallery of the same name.

For info: salamongallery.it

Hours: Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Free admission.

Image: Antonio Veneziano, Announcing Angel (tempera du tavola, gold ground, 40.5 x 23.2 cm)

Gold in the 14th-century and contemporary fine arts. An exhibition at the Salamon Gallery investigates this dialogue

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