KudoZ: term help for translators

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Italian term

Isabelle Johnson

Italy

214 questions

granitura

Italian to English Art/Literary Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting

From a museum entry on Gentile da Fabriano
Poi c'è un altro dettaglio che vale la pena di essere osservato - riprende Andrea De Marchi - sul fondo oro sono incisi sei angeli, minutamente incisi, alla prima possono anche sfuggire, sono realizzati semplicemente con la cosiddetta granitura, un'incisione puntiforme, con uno stiletto appuntito che punzecchia la superficie dell'oro e in questo modo crea le ombre e le luci, o meglio la granitura determina la luce e dà corpo a queste figurette di angeli che traspaiono nell'oro come vere e proprie creature immateriali".

I understand what it is - it is explained - but I'm struggling to find its name in English. Any ideas?

Thanks very much in advance.

Proposed translations (English)

graining

Antonio Tomás Lessa do Amaral

Discussion

Isabelle Johnson (asker) Apr 4, 2018: The text, though, is talking about Fabriano's use jewellery engraving techniques. Anyway, thanks very much for your help Phil.
philgoddard Apr 4, 2018: But this is not about engraving. It's a technique taken from gold and silverwork and used in painting, and I don't think you should try to find an English equivalent. Anyway, up to you!
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Apr 4, 2018: I don't think I agree. See below: Stipple engraving \| Britannica.com https://www.britannica.com/art/stipple-engraving Traduci questa pagina glass goblet; diamond-point engravingGlass goblet with diamond-point stipple engraving, signed “F. Greenwood fecit 1764,” from Holland; in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg. Height 28 cm. Courtesy of Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg ... Stipple engraving - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stipple_engraving Traduci questa pagina Stipple engraving is a technique used to create tone in an intaglio print by distributing a pattern of dots of various sizes and densities across the image. The pattern is created on the printing plate either in engraving by gouging out the dots with a burin, or through an etching process. Stippling was used as an adjunct to ...
philgoddard Apr 4, 2018: I don't disagree with stippling, but I think most people would associate that with the brush. The end effect is stippled, but it's achieved in a particular way. That's why I think it's better to leave it in Italian. To be clear, this is about a painting, not metalwork or sculpture.
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Apr 4, 2018: Yes stippling was there in the text I posted and might be a good alternative. Thanks very much indeed!
P.L.F. Persio Apr 4, 2018: alternatives: See here; it's a .pdf, but you should find it online: AV71_DeMarchi La ricezione dell'oro.pdf - FloRe 27 Vedi supra nota 21. Le tre tipologie di lavorazione dell’oro elencate sono le principali categorizzate anche da Skaug (Punch marks…, cit., I, pp. 62-66) e altri al suo seguito, con i lemmi “indentation” (incisione lineare a mano libera, in tedesco “Ritzung”), “stippling” (granitura puntiforme, in tedesco “Punktierung”) e “punching” (punzonatura, in tedesco “Punzierung”). Vedi pure J. Polzer, A question of method: quantitative aspects of art historical analysis in the classification of early Trecento Italian painting based on ornamental practice, “Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz”, XLIX, 2005, pp. 33-100, in particolare p. 34, e B. Eclercy, Nimbendekor…, cit., pp. 58-80.
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Apr 4, 2018: I see what you both mean and thanks very much. Even trying pearling on its own it always seems to be a border.
P.L.F. Persio Apr 4, 2018: Thank you, Isabelle, but I think Phil has a point, and I'd go with his suggestion. Here http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/coll... you can see it's a border.
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Apr 4, 2018: Graining was my original idea but I can't find it convincingly anywhere as a term.
philgoddard Apr 4, 2018: It's not a border, though. I'd leave it in Italian, perhaps followed by "graining" in brackets, since it's explained in such detail.
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Apr 4, 2018: Hello! Yes perhaps you're right as this seems to correspond: Portrait medals of Italian artists of the Renaissance https://books.google.it/books?isbn=5876331988 - Traduci questa pagina G.F. Hill - 1912 - ‎History ... as the Italians called the pearled border, consisting of rather large widely spaced “ pearls,” on both sides. Some seven or eight of the medals of the Florentine family mentioned above have a border treated in exatfitly the same way. The medal ofPrimaticcio is inscribed FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO P-B(Pitrare Balagmre). Why don't you put it in as answer?
P.L.F. Persio Apr 4, 2018: Hi Isabelle! Could it be something like this? Pearled border or granitura: MEDALLIC TECHNIQUE 27 The surfaces having been carefully polished, the positions of the pearled border or granitura and of the inscription were marked on them with compasses. The medallist could then cut with a grave direct into the metal, guiding himself by his models. The letters were also cut with gravers or burins. Some medallists used the gem- cutter's wheel for engraving the dies. Cellini himself, however, for his medals of Clement VII, employed puncheons or madri, 1 as for his coins. That is to say, for the portrait-head, and for various details, Cellini carved steel punches in relief ; these were driven into the die, which had been softened in the fire, and left impressions in reverse. Similarly he had an alphabet of punches for the inscrip- tions, and a punch with dots or pearls to make the pearled border or granitura. https://books.google.nl/books?id=UNAMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27&lpg=PA...