Similarly, gold has long been used in Islamic artwork, from miniature paintings to calligraphy – one of the oldest and most notable gold-leaf illuminated manuscripts to survive is the Blue Quran. Holy laws in Islam prohibit human idolatry, and therefore illustrating the human physical form in religious material is largely forbidden. This means that the use of gold has been restricted to intricate gold patterns, scripture and calligraphy, and so these techniques are highly developed.
Important buildings, including many houses of worship, have been gilded in gold across the world. Countless golden temples, pagodas and shrines are scattered across Asia, from the gold-leaf Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan, to the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, and both structures glisten in reflective pools. Also known as the Golden Rock, Kyaiktiyo Pagoda is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar. A small pagoda is perched atop a huge gold-leaf boulder that looks as if it could roll away at any moment. According to Buddhist legend, the rock is kept in place by a strand of the Buddha’s hair.
The art of kintsugi and the legacy of Gustav Klimt's golden portraits
In Japan, the art form known as kintsugi – translating as ‘golden joinery’ – was developed during the 16th and 17th century. It is the method of repairing broken ceramics with gold. A tree sap lacquer is used to glue fragments together, left to dry and then traditionally dusted with powdered gold. The technique is part of a wider Japanese philosophy called wabi-sabi: the beauty and acceptance of imperfection and incompleteness.
Perhaps the most famous painter to use gold in portraiture is symbolist Gustav Klimt. Klimt’s father was a gold engraver, and when the artist visited Italy in 1903 he was particularly taken by the medieval gold mosaics that decorated religious buildings. The most famous painting from his Byzantine (or Golden) phase is the first portrait he made of Adele Bloch-Bauer in 1907. Klimt’s use of gold leaf was used not to pay respects to holy deities, but to illustrate the sensuality and sexuality of his subjects, which was received somewhat controversially at the time.
Klimt completed this portrait of Mrs. Bloch-Bauer over two years, immortalising her in what many consider to be the ultimate expression of desire and reverence. At this point, Klimt was already famous for his unique style; he had been commissioned to create three paintings to decorate the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna. When completed, this work was criticized for being too racy, so it was never installed in the Great Hall and was destroyed by the retreating German forces in May 1945. Thankfully, the portrait of Bloch-Bauer still exists; it had been stolen and installed in the Galerie Belvedere in Austria by the Nazis until, after a lengthy international court battle, it was returned to her heirs in 2006.
Though many artists and makers still use gold leaf and gold metal, also available on the market today are gold metallic paints, from acrylics and oils to inks and markers. With the most luxurious colour on the spectrum now widely accessible, just about anyone can add a dose of golden grandeur to their work.