Verre Eglomise mirrors are in today’s era beautiful pieces of art created using the technique of applying gold or silver leaf to the reverse of a clear piece of glass. The leaf is a precious metal often 13grams with the smallest being 80cm x80cm square making it a skilled craft just to apply the leaf. The leaf can then be ‘worked into’ to render an ornate design within the leaf called Verre Eglomise. This pattern or design is then viewed from the front of the glass. Employing this method the artisan creates stunning pieces of art which are often intricate and complex in production, taking may years for the craft and their style to be developed.
But where did the idea come from? Here we investigate the background and where the art form was started.
This extract from Wikipedia explains the terminology: ‘Verre églomisé [vɛʁ e.ɡlɔ.mi.ze] is a French term referring to the process of applying both a design and gilding onto the rear face of glass to produce a mirror finish’
The early forms of ‘Eglomise mirrors’ actually derive from late antiquity being revived at certain points throughout history: in Italy during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries appearing in paintings, furniture, drinking glasses and similar vessels, and jewellery; in Holland and Spain during the 17th and 18th centuries; and in France, England, and the United States in the 18th century. Some late 18th-century examples depicting views of Holland can be assigned to a Dutch engraver signing himself simply “Zeuner.” During the same period, verre églomisé was popular in the United States as decoration for such objects as clock cases and the panels of Sheraton style mirrors.
Although it was a technique which dates to the pre-Roman eras, it was a French expert called Jean-Baptiste Glomy who was responsible for its revival when he gave his name to the technique of decorating glass in this method after he popularised it in Paris in the 18th Century. His expertise lay in drawing, prints, being a draughtsman, and an engraver so he naturally developed his skill in a relatively simple one of applying decorative designs in a combination colour and gilding, usually to glass picture frames.
Later this artform was seen in artist Wassily Kandinsky work (who was part of the abstract movement) and produced works of glass paintings in 1910 and 1911 with the use of bright colours, flat patterns, and an attempt at a naive mode of expression. In all of his paintings in this medium, Kandinsky learned from the Bavarian craftsmen to apply details first and then, after backing them with flat colours, to finish with a final coating, often of silver or quicksilver. Since the painted side would be turned away from the spectator, the composition, like a print, had to be executed in reverse. Then the technique was later explored by the Blue Rider group of artists in the 1920s who turned the technique art into fine art.
Moving forward into the 21st Century with a renaissance in traditional techniques and crafts are various commercial artists who use this Verre Eglomise art form to produce beautiful pieces of art for wall features in interiors. Now over time it has come to be used to describe nearly any process involving back painted and gilded glass however elaborate and in more recent history, as window signs and advertising mirrors.
Verre Eglomise and Eglomise techniques vary hugely as the Eglomise mirrors don’t include the intricate designs and can also be known as simply hand gilded distressed mirrors but still complex skill to undertake which takes years to refine. Eglomise Mirrors and Verre Eglomise products are valued with art enthusiasts and collectors who recognise the unique technique and craftmanship.
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