Assist ( Latin assisto - stand nearby, be present) - in the icon-painting strokes of gold leaf or silver on the folds of clothes, feathers, wings of angels, on benches, tables, thrones, domes, symbolizing the presence of Divine light, replacing the gap .
Traditionally, the garments of Christ are painted as an assistant first of all, when he is portrayed in glory: for example, on the icons of the Resurrection , Ascension , Transfiguration , Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary , sometimes in the deesis rank (like the King of Glory). From the second half of the 16th century in Russian iconography any clothes of saints could be painted with gold.
Gilding Technique
Assist was superimposed as follows: the surface of the fully completed painting was dusted with finely ground chalk powder so that the leaves of gold leaf or silver did not stick to the fresh colorful layer. Then the places for the assist were smeared with a special adhesive composition. A piece of gold or silver was carefully taken with a bread crumb and pressed to the prepared surface. After the glue had dried, the excess pieces of metal were carefully brushed away, and the assistant was polished to give it a shine with a “tooth” of agate (in ancient times, an animal tooth was often used instead of agate).
In some cases, the assist was applied with gold (that is, powdered and mixed with glue). Especially widely created gold in icon painting was used in the XVII-XVIII centuries. They were prescribed folds of clothes, individual details of the environment and background — for example, grass or leaves on trees, and ornaments were made. Subtle touches of created gold could be applied “to the pen”, “to the bristle” or “matting”.
Assist is also called a glue composition for gilding - "gilding on the assist . " It is prepared from stewed garlic juice or beer wort .
Literature
- Igum. Luke (Golovkov). Assist // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2001. - T. III. - S. 627. - 752 p. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-008-0 .
- Restoration of easel tempera painting / Ed. V.V. Filatova - M .: Fine Arts, 1986