After 50 years gilding Spain's Royal Palace, master craftsman urges young people to take up the trade
Lucio Maire Dorado joined the gilding workshop of Madrid's Royal Palace as a 14-year-old apprentice and now runs it. As he nears retirement, he is asking young people to keep the craft alive. There are no formal gilding schools in Spain, so the next generation has to learn it in the workshop itself.
A booklet of gold leaf, a gilder’s tip to lift it, a bowl of water and spirit, and an agate stone for burnishing. With tools that he says have barely changed since ancient Egypt, Lucio Maire Dorado has spent half a century bringing the shine back to frames, ceilings, gates and carriages at the Royal Palace in Madrid.
From 14-year-old apprentice to master
Maire grew up in the Campo del Moro gardens below the palace, where Patrimonio Nacional, the agency that runs Spain’s royal sites, used to house its staff. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were gilders too. He joined the palace gilding workshop at 14 and worked his way up from apprentice through assistant, craftsman and foreman to master, he told the Spanish news agency EFE. He now leads a team of three.
The workshop’s reach goes well beyond Madrid: Aranjuez, the Almudaina palace in Mallorca, the Royal Alcázar of Seville, the Las Huelgas monastery in Burgos, Santa Clara in Tordesillas and the Encarnación convent in Madrid. It also looks after the horse-drawn carriages that take new ambassadors to present their credentials to the King. Right now Maire is restoring dozens of frames, miniatures and ivories for an upcoming exhibition at the Royal Collections Gallery.
Lucio Maire prepares a sheet of gold leaf on a gilder’s cushion. Photo: © Patrimonio Nacional (shared with Happy News of the Day).
A craft once kept secret, now taught openly
Maire remembers that senior gilders used to hide their tricks from apprentices. That has changed, and the workshop now teaches openly. The difficulty is finding people to teach: there are no formal gilding schools, he says, and few young people come to the trade. So, close to retirement, his message to them is simple: “It’s a beautiful trade.”
Gilding is done leaf by leaf, with a brush and water. Photo: © Patrimonio Nacional (shared with Happy News of the Day).
Patrimonio Nacional shows some of this work on its social media, including a video in which Maire explains how to replace the missing gold on a 19th-century frame.
A gilded royal barge from Patrimonio Nacional’s collections. Photo: © Patrimonio Nacional (shared with Happy News of the Day).
