Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Gilt

Francesco Mochi
Defeated Heretic
ca. 1625
gilt bronze
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia


Francesco Mochi
Defeated Heretic
ca. 1625
gilt bronze
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Hans Ludwig Kienle
Horse and Rider
1630
silver and silver gilt
Art Institute of Chicago

Anonymous French Makers
Keyhole Escutcheon
ca. 1740
gilt bronze
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Makers
Keyhole Escutcheon with Griffins
ca. 1800-1810
gilt bronze
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Makers
Goddess pouring from Ewer
ca. 1805
gilt bronze furniture mount
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Makers
Antique Figure walking into Wind
ca. 1810
gilt bronze furniture mount
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Makers
Winged Goddess
ca. 1810
gilt bronze furniture mount
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous French Makers
Charioteer
ca. 1815
gilt bronze furniture mount
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Paul Storr
Ceremonial Cup with Cover
1834
silver gilt
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Jean-Léon Gérôme
Napoleon entering Cairo
ca. 1900
gilt bronze and wood statuette
Art Institute of Chicago

Raymond Duchamp-Villon
Very Small Horse
1914
gilt bronze
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Paul Manship
Actaeon
1925
gilt bronze
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Paul Manship
Eurydice
ca. 1930
gilt bronze on lapis lazuli base
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Marcel Bouraine
Lamp with Undersea Motif
ca. 1930
gilt bronze and onyx
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Alberto Giacometti
Small Standing Woman
ca. 1945
gilt bronze
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas

Louise Bourgeois
Untitled (Fingers)
1986
bronze (partly gilt)
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

The Oracles

'Tis mute, the word they went to hear on high Dodona mountain
    When winds were in the oakenshaws and all the cauldrons tolled,
And mute's the midland navel-stone beside the singing fountain,
    And echoes list to silence now where gods told lies of old.

I took my question to the shrine that has not ceased from speaking,
    The heart within, that tells the truth and tells it twice as plain;
And from the cave of oracles I heard the priestess shrieking
    That she and I should surely die and never live again.

Oh priestess, what you cry is clear, and sound good sense I think it;
    But let the screaming echoes rest, and froth your mouth no more.
'Tis true there's better boose than brine, but he that downs must drink it;
    And oh, my lass, the news is news that men have heard before.

The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning;
    Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air.
And he that stands will die for nought, and home there's no returning.
    The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair.

– A.E. Housman (1922)