Sophie Coryndon – Wilton Vine – Old Gold – Cotton Poplin

Sophie Coryndon has long been drawn to one of the earliest paintings in the National Gallery, The Wilton Diptych. Made in the 1390s, this small altarpiece is a rare example of a religious painting from before the Reformation, and finely demonstrates a number of late medieval artistic techniques. The Diptych is made up of two hinged panels, allowing for the artwork to be closed up and carried like a book.

An element that stood out to Sophie in particular was the background on each of the panels; working to a miniscule scale, each detail would have been made by lightly tooling gold leaf with a shaped metal punch to create variation over the surface. Altering the scale and transcribing one of the patterns in the artist’s own hand, Wilton Vine has an almost Arts & Crafts feeling to it, echoing the huge influence the craftsmanship of late medieval and renaissance arts had on that period.