ALTARPIECE OF THE VIRGIN OF BASCONES, VALDIVIA

POLYCHROME DECORATION 

At least two different polychrome decorations co-exist on the Bascones altarpiece in Valdivia. The more prominent Rococo decoration was applied apparently directly to the original colours and gilts, covering most of their surfaces, in 1776. Reds, greens and blues are the predominant colours and we can see motifs of large blooms, rockeries and "C" motifs on flat gilt and other backgrounds that had been scraped to imitate gold thread. On the other hand, the visible fragments of the original polychrome decoration reveal an extremely-sophisticated, very rich decoration in which burnished and matte gilts and silver alternate with red, green and russet-coloured glazes and burnished incarnations together with a great number and variety of different ornamental motifs.

Decorative techniques (original decoration):

• Paint applied to gilt using a brush.
• Blue and white Sgraffitos with decorative floral motifs, simple voluted plant and geometric figure motifs, etc..  
• Matte gilt on green, red and russet glazes with floral motifs.