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Category: Scandinavian
The ideal craftsman: the Danish court gilder Peder Christian Damborg (1801-65)
Frames: state of the art was published in 2008 to accompany the exhibition of the same name at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. The guiding spirit behind both was Henrik Bjerre; he is generously allowing The Frame Blog to republish essays from the book, which will appear as an occasional series. The fourth essay in the series is by Jannie Henriette Linnemann, who considers the career of a 19th century Danish gilder, and transcribes extracts from his 1822 manuscript on gilding.
Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann (1819-81), the court gilder and frame-maker Peder Christian Damborg (1801-65), 1853, dimensions unknown, Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen. Photo: Riccardo Buccarella, SMK-foto
'The art of gilding on wood is really very simple: it is based on accuracy and cleanliness in working, and on proceeding as simply as possible from the very beginning. By using artificial and elaborate methods, what could have been achieved well by simpler means will often be spoilt. Many gilders have the incorrect idea that it is quite impossible to produce a good finish without employing an infinite number of ingredients, combined in every imaginable way, and they make their preparations in such secrecy that they do not even let their apprentices know about them, but only teach the basic techniques necessary for them to complete their work. This means that the apprentices become nothing more than jobbing workers who only rarely consider their craft and the reason that a task is done one way and not another…
In this short note I will give brief instructions (as far as it is within my power) for the easiest, most durable way of carrying out good and permanent gilding. As the process can only be learned by practice, I will spend more time on describing the preparation, and on different responses to the season or other factors, which it might be useful for young beginners to know – those, for example, who have already acquired some practical experience but who, because they lack theoretical knowledge, are unable to carry out any work without help.' [1]
This is the Danish craftsman, Peder Christian Damborg, in the introduction to his manuscript written in Bremen in the year 1822, 'Beschreibung der Holzvergoldung nebst mehreren anderen in diesem Fache gehörenden Arbeiten von Damborg' (A description of gilding on wood, together with other associated arts ), after his travels in search of knowledge and experience [2].
Damborg's youth
Peder Christian Damborg was born in Copenhagen on 30 May 30 1801 [3]. His father was Haagen Petersen Damborg (c.1768-1848), a cobbler and a bell ringer at Vartov Church, and his mother Anne Cathrine Bæhr (born c.1779). Damborg was a pupil at Trinitatis Church School, and, according to a reference from his teacher Mørk in 1814, 'he was characterized by morality and diligence'. When he was only 16, he left Denmark to work as a gilder in Hanover, Vienna and Bremen. He worked his way from town to town in the German Burscher manner, which was traditional amongst apprentice craftsmen, who travelled abroad to improve their art by working for different masters. By 1824 he was back in Copenhagen, where he submitted examples of his work to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts to great praise. The Academy's written response, dated 26 May 1824 and signed by the director, the architect Christian Frederik Hansen (1756-1845), is as follows:
'The gilder, Peder Damborg, has submitted specimens of ornament finished with gilding in gold and metal leaf to the Academy for assessment; these specimens are, not only with respect to gilding but also to exactitude and taste, so well executed and of so fine an effect, that the Academy hereby with hand and seal bears witness to his ability.'
These specimens were kept in the School of the Technical Company for many years and confirm the justice of the Academy's praise.
Changes in frame-making
Damborg appears to have been accorded an unusual degree of respect for his abilities in the German and Austrian workshops where he worked, from the beginning of his years as a travelling apprentice. This is confirmed not only by the ceremonious reception he was given when revisiting his old colleagues and employers, to refresh his skills, but also by a note on the last pages of his manuscript:
'This was written at the request of colleagues during my stay in Germany, although of no further importance because of the changed state of the craft.
Copenhagen, 1835 – Damborg'
His addition makes it clear that Damborg was aware of how the practice of framemaking had altered. The early 1800s were a watershed for the craft: industrialization and a decline in the demand for hand-carved frames meant that the basis for their creation gradually withered away in the course of the 19th century. Frames were now decorated with applied, moulded ornament instead of being carved in wood, and Damborg recognized that the methods he had grown up with were no longer in keeping with the times.
Three examples of Damborg's picture frames (elevation and section); from an article by E. Hannover in Tidsskrift for Kunstindustri, 1893, with examples of completed Damborg frames. Photos: Riccardo Buccarella, SMK-foto
Pattern books for craftsmen and reference books on gilding and varnishes had been produced since the 18th century, helping to enhance the production of frames as an independent craft. In Germany, where the publishing of printed textbooks was advanced, catalogues were available for workshops with designs and also descriptions of framemaking. Damborg probably used such sources as the model for his own 86-page manuscript, which he wrote when only 21, at the end of his formative journey as a craftsman [4]. This manuscript later formed the foundation of the gilding and framemaking business which he started immediately on his return.
The court gilder
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-1853), Frederik VI of Denmark, 1820, o/c, 18 x 14 ½ ins (46 x 37 cm.), Sotheby's, London, 19 January 2016, Lot 176; presented by the king to José Maria O'Neill in 1839, this is almost certainly in one of Damborg's frames
On 31 May 1825 Damborg was appointed court gilder by Frederik VI, although still only 24, and was entrusted with all the gilding in the new Palace of Christiansborg: thrones, pier glasses, tables, consoles, curtain poles, candelabra, etc. Christianborg had been designed by the architect Christian Frederik Hansen, the same director of the Royal Danish Academy who had passed the samples of Damborg's work, and who must have been instrumental in his appointment. The gilding was carried out under the supervision of Gustav Friedrich Hetsch (1788-1854), another architect.
Damborg was also responsible for framing the work of a great many contemporary artists. Many of these paintings, now in a number of different museums including the Statens Museum for Kunst, retain their original frames, which bear witness to his skill. Nothing left his workshop without having passed his inspection, and he made it a point of honour to produce meticulous and perfect craftsmanship of the finest quality. He selected his materials carefully, since the ground for his gilding had to be the best – in terms of the carved wood, the gold leaf, etc. – all of the highest quality: whilst his working procedure was detailed, slow and thorough. His frames still have a fine sheen on the gilding.
The Palace of Christiansborg
H.G.F. Holm, The Palace of Christiansborg, 1827, coloured etching
The task that Damborg had been given at the Palace of Christiansborg was so vast that in November 1828 he had to employ three gilders from Berlin to help him; he also had to hire a man just to transport the gilded objects from his workshop to the castle. The gilding of the interior of the palace was a very costly affair, especially in view of the price of gold at that time. Huge quantities of gold leaf were used, reflecting the light and giving lustre to the interior. His gilding, combined with carved ornament and réparure, or the recutting of detail in the gesso underlayer, gave the furnishings of the castle the illusion of being cast from solid gold. This picture of his work there emerges from a contemporary inventory of the castle, and the meticulous accounts which Damborg himself left. He mentions in his accounts, for example, items such as the thrones of the King and Queen, where 965 rix-dollars, or rigsdaler, were paid for the gilding [5]. The enormous looking-glass frames in the throne room, as well as the ornamental frames for four history paintings by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, were also included in his contract. As well as these, the palace inventory mentions gilded wallpaper borders, a number of pier glasses with consoles, tables, chairs, stools, pedestals, candelabra, door frames, curtain poles, and much more beside [6]. In fulfilling this multifarious commission, Damborg worked as a designer, technician, gilder, bronzer and varnisher.
Further examples of Damborg's picture frames (elevation and section); from an article by E. Hannover in Tidsskrift for Kunstindustri, 1893
Unfortunately all Damborg's gilding for the palace was destroyed in the fire there in 1884. A number of picture frames which he had finished over later years for the royal picture gallery were also lost; the canvases were cut out of the frames so that they could be rescued from the burning building.
Damborg's clients
In spite of the numerous commissions which Damborg carried out for the court of Frederik VI, not only at the Palace of Christiansborg, but also the Amalienborg, Frederiksberg Castle, Bernstorff Palace and Sorgenfri Castle, he also took on a large number from private citizens. In order to manage all this additional work, as well as the decoration of the royal palaces, he employed three to four journeymen in his business.
His accounts book for 1833-43 contains references to work executed for practically the whole of the Danish aristocracy, as well as the most notable artists and collectors of the period. Among the former were Count Blücher of Altona, Baron Breton, Count Danneskiold- Samsøe, Count Friis, Count Holck, Baroness Holstein, Baron Juel, Count Knuth, Baron Løvenskjold, Count Moltke of Bregentved, Count Rantzau, Baron Scheel-Plessen and many more, whilst amongst the artists who employed him were the painter and lithographer Emilius Bærentzen, the architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll, the scene painter Christian Ferdinand Christensen, the medallist Christen Christensen, as well as C.W. Eckersberg, Heinrich Eddelin, F.M.E. Fabritius de Tengnagel, Louis Gurlit, Constantin Hansen, J.L. Jensen, Christen Købke, J.C. Lund, Thorald Læssøe, J.P. Møller, Wilhelm Marstrand, Martinus Rørbye, Frederik Sødring and the Norwegian painter J.C. Dahl.
There were also many scholars and collectors, including J.C. Spengler, the Keeper of The Royal Kunstkammer, and the archaeologist Peter Oluf Brøndsted. In later account books, even more artists' names appear: amongst them J.V. Gertner, Johan Th. Lundbye, Ernst Meyer, Adam Müller, P.C. Skovgaard, Jørgen Sonne and Bertel Thorvaldsen. Later again come Carl Bloch, Janus la Cour, Christen Dalsgaard, C.A. Kølle, Gotfred Rump, H. Siegumfeldt, Frederik Vermehren and many more. Besides being his customers, they were also his friends. Damborg was their equal in abilities and taste, and if an artist was suffering monetary problems, he would take a painting in settlement of a bill. These paintings stayed on the walls of his home in Store Strandstræde; he did not sell them [7].
Damborg's portrait
Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1819-81), Peder Christian Damborg (1801-65), 1853, Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen. Photo: Riccardo Buccarella, SMK-foto
Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1819-81) was a contemporary of Damborg's, and her 1853 portrait gives a good impression of him. It's bust-length, set in one of his own ornamental frames – a simple rectilinear gilt frame with an oval sight and decorative spandrels. He regards the viewer with a melancholy gaze; his modest appearance emphasizing his pensive expression. There are no loud garments with gold buttons, pocket watch and silk lapels, but simple everyday clothes; he's not finely arrayed but dressed as the craftsman he is, wearing a smoking hat with a tassel, according to the fashion of the day. He frowns slightly, and his mouth is soft and a little perplexed. He has a long thinnish nose, and his high, wide forehead gives the impression of wisdom and intelligence. This is not a face which has the gloss of good living, and in fact he had the reputation of leading a modest and temperate life. He looks delicate and almost boyish, with his narrow shoulders, and he is apparently fairly slight. Altogether he gives the impression of life being a serious business, and he certainly doesn't radiate vitality, dynamism or energy. What with his commitment to his craft, his positions on various boards and committees, and his own workshop, he might have been expected to affect a proud bearing; but instead he looks overworked and tired; perhaps, too, he didn't enjoy the process of having his portrait painted – a busy man, who could ill afford the time to sit for Baumann. Perhaps he also preferred not to spend time on social events, but would generally be found at home, in his workshop. It was, however, said of him that he was nearly always ready to help others, and that he was a methodical man, calm and patient.
Damborg sat, as noted, on a number of boards and was a member of many societies. Among his many positions, he was principal of the Reiersenske School of Drawing from 1825; in 1840 he became a member of the committee for the investigation of the Guilds and Corporations Department in Copenhagen in 1840 [8]; and in 1842 moderator for the award of 'The gilders' masterpieces'. In 1844 he was on the board of the Technical School; and between 1846-48 he was chairman of the exhibition committee and on the board of the Industrial Society of Copenhagen, where he was also superintendent for some years. In 1850 he became co-director of the trade guild, and the same year he was elected to the city council, to which he was re-elected twice and remained until his death in 1865. In 1864 he sent in his resignation as poor-law inspector. He had had the latter job for 28 years, demonstrating his awareness of the less fortunate, and possibly impelled by his own childhood in straitened circumstances.
Collaboration with Gustav Friedrich Hetsch
As far as is known, Damborg never received any drawing instruction himself, either at the Academy or any other school of art, even though he was appointed principal of the Reiersenske School of Drawing as early as 1824. It seems evident, however, that he had a natural and fresh approach to drawing – perhaps because as a young man he copied things that he found interesting. Gustav Hetsch was a frequent guest in his workshop and came to have great influence on him. Hetsch himself had been educated as an architect in Paris, under Charles Percier and Louis Hippolyte Lebas, and the art of drawing was close to his heart; so much so that, in 1853, he published Om Tegnekunsten, betragtet som Dannelsesmidde, (On the art of drawing as a formative influence). He attached great importance to the teaching of draughtsmanship as a personal skill, connected with individual spiritual development, and he was partly responsible for a number of teaching reforms at the Academy during the 1830s, where he improved the obligatory drawing courses for craftsmen. Hetsch also planned the drawing courses at the Technical Institute, founded in 1843, in his capacity as director of teaching. He can be seen, together with the art historian N.L. Høyen (1798-1870), as a leader of his period with regard to taste and style.
Peder Damborg, pier glass with matching console, drawing, 1824, Archive of the Guild of Cabinetmakers, Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen
Hetsch and Damborg had a long and fruitful collaboration. Hetsch, who was also the son- in-law of the architect Christian Hansen, and responsible for the interior decoration of the Palace of Christiansborg, exerted a great influence over Damborg during their work together on the palace furnishings. A drawing of a pier glass with a console by Damborg may have been intended for one of Christiansborg's many rooms, and in this case, as in so many others, Hetsch may very well have inspired its design. It is also quite possible that it was Hetsch who opened the way for Damborg's various positions on boards and in public offices.
Damborg's workshop
The first time Damborg's name appears in the Copenhagen directory is in 1826: 'P. Chr. Damborg, Royal Court Gilder, 11, Gothersgade' runs the entry [9]. In 1828 he was still living in the same street, but in 1830 he moved to 105, St. Strandstræde; the building has since been demolished. He is now registered as 'Royal Court Gilder and Framemaker'. There was only one court gilder at a time, but there were several royal suppliers.
The fact that he moved quite often prior to 1830 was due to his success, which caused a continual expansion of his workshop; but he remained at 105, St. Strandstræde until his death at the end of 1865. His wife survived him until 1895, also moving a number of times, but she managed to continue his business for a while.
Contemporary moulding and gilding techniques
Damborg's clients had great faith in his sense of style and taste. His frames were well-made from good materials, with finely-executed ornament and gilding. He put great importance on meticulous planning, the grading of his leaf gold by quality, and a strict adherence to the application of the different layers. He was of course a master of gilding, allowing design and ornament to be perfectly displayed. He did not overdo the use of applied (compo) decoration either; his frames were mainly of solid wood. As regards the gilding, the relationship of matt and burnished surfaces was vital, just as the alternation between reddish and yellow ochre bole gave varying colour tones and play in the gold. Damborg used all the different shades of bole, from a deep blue-black, through reds and ochres to white. All these factors fed into the craftsmanship characteristic of his frames, and his mastery of these techniques explains why, today, his frames are still sought after.
Machine for pressing ornament with rolls of prepared compo; frame workshop of F.G. Conzen, Düsseldorf. Photo: Jannie Henriette Linnemann
Before Damborg's time, most frames were carved in wood and then covered with gesso and gilded. But about the year 1800, labour-intensive hand-carved wooden decoration was replaced by composition or 'compo', the most important constituents of which were gesso and rabbitskin glue with the addition of linseed oil. The oil prevented the mass breaking during the working process; it functioned as a softening and binding agent. The material was pressed while warm into moulds which were carved in reverse with every type of ornament. During the cooling process, the compo hardened in these moulds, and the motifs and lengths of ornament were then taken out and fixed to the frame with more rabbitskin glue. There was great demand for frames in bas-relief, for which composition was particularly well- suited [10].
Drum from an ornament moulding machine, with textured acanthus leaf decorations;
F.G. Conzen, Düsseldorf. Photo: Jannie Henriette Linnemann
Part of the success of compo ornament lay in its ability to provide a decorative and affordable alternative for the middle and lower-middle classes, who were less wealthy and could not pay for expensive hand-carved frames. Pressed and applied ornament was far cheaper, and became at first a supplement and then all but replaced hand-carved frames, the clients for which were the elite. At first framemakers tried to imitate wood carving in compo, but gradually, as the craft matured, other possibilities arose, and a new idiom was developed. Damborg saw the possibilities in the process; he had the ability to produce original and attractive frames with compo decoration, and to develop this new branch of framemaking (this aspect of his work can be compared with Josiah Wedgwood's earlier struggle to give the lower middle classes in England a cheaper alternative to porcelain, in the form of 'creamware' – a finer, thinner and more lustrous version of earthenware). Decorative compo frames turned out to be much more successful in the decades after 1800 than was originally envisaged, especially in Denmark, which was undergoing a period of economic recession.
Wilhelm Bendz (1804-32), The Raffenberg Family, 1830, o/c, 17.6 x 15.6 ins (44.9 x 39.7 cm.), Statens Museum for Kunst, in a hollow bay leaf-&-bud frame with rais-de-coeur at the sight edge, as in Damborg's design, below, with a plainer design on the drawing hanging at the right of the painting
Moulded compo decoration was particularly well-suited to the style of the Empire period, with its delicate classical borders, wreaths and architectural ornament. It was ideal for friezes of palmettes, egg-and-dart or astragal-&-bead mouldings, but could also reproduce more complex motifs – swans, anthemia, acanthus leaves, flowers, and fruit.
Damborg used all three contemporary gilding techniques for finishing his frames: water gilding, which can be burnished to a high lustre; oil gilding, which is more robust and has a matt surface; and silver-leaf gilding, where a gold-coloured lacquer is usually applied over the silver. These first two techniques enhance each other and create an animated play of light over the surfaces of the frame. Damborg's manuscript is reproduced, below, with his descriptions of the gilding process.
Empire and Restauration styles (c. 1800-30)
Wilhelm Bendz (1804-32), The Waagepetersen Family, 1830, o/c, 99.5 x 88.5 cm., Statens Museum for Kunst, in a Greek corner ogee frame; within the painting pictures in similar frames hang in an Empire interior with two earlier oval portraits in Louis XVI frames
The most attractive of Damborg's frames are the most simple: embellished just with an egg-&-dart or astragal-&-bead moulding, on the Empire profiles which were also used by Hetsch and his German colleague, the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841). However, Schinkel preferred a more Greek-oriented classicism for his great frame project for the galleries of Berlin, from 1823-30 [11].
Bastiano Mainardi (c.1460-1513), Madonna & Child with John the Baptist and three angels, Gemälgalerie, Berlin, in Schinkel frame with matching paterae in the spandrels
Schinkel's frames had a difference of style from Damborg's, even though they employed the same type of ornament. As an architect, he regarded the design of a frame in a more academic way; he had a scholar's knowledge of classical Greek motifs, and his frames were more mannered and perhaps more pretentious than those of the craftsman. Schinkel had a love of embellishment which is alien to Damborg's approach, and his use of ornament could almost overpower the frame, even entering into competition with the painting. Schinkel's frames were also frequently an element in the overall interior design of his buildings, and were, in conception, close to stylistic perfection, whereas Damborg's frames were more modest in their expression. Damborg seems to have felt that the frame should be subordinate to the painting, with less ornament and busy-ness: probably because he understood the viewpoint of his client, the artist, as well as that of the craftsman involved in the work.
Leo von Klenze (1784-1864), Ideal view of the Acropolis and Areopagus, 1846, o/c, 102.8 x 147.7 cm., Neue Pinakothek, Munich
Schinkel's contemporary, Leo von Klenze (court architect for Ludwig II of Bavaria), also modernized and standardized all the picture frames in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, from 1830-36, as Schinkel had done in Berlin's Gemäldegalerie, diffusing the fashion for the enriched Empire frame.
The period between 1820 and 1860 was one of the high points of Danish framemaking and gilding, and Denmark became a model for its new styles and methods of production. Damborg followed the contemporary currents; he was not prejudiced against innovative technology, developing new frame patterns and mouldings, and annotating his drawings in several places 'invenit', establishing his own claim to these designs. He must have benefitted from his annual trips abroad, finding direct inspiration from them.
Drawing of five ornamental friezes from Greek antiquity revived in Empire style frames, furniture and architecture; inscribed '31 de Marts 1816', ink & pencil, 37.2 x 48.9 cm., Archive of the Guild of Cabinetmakers, Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen. Photo: Pernille Klemp
Symmetry and linear forms were basic elements of the Empire style; and the moulded compo frame offered a flexible range of variations on the basic theme. This included different profiles and widths of the rail, which could be ornamented with pearls, astragal-&-bead, a fluted scotia, dentils, Greek fret, ovolo chain and stopped-channel fluting, amongst other motifs.
Bronze was said to be the favourite material of Empire, but Damborg only used it under gilding. Bronze work was not particularly common in Denmark at the start of the 19th century, as this was an impoverished period for the country due to the Napoleonic Wars and the state bankruptcy of 1813.
Different styles and types of frames
Damborg frame: NeoClassical scotia pattern with rais-de-coeur, Statens Museum for Kunst.
Photo: Riccardo Buccarella, SMK-foto
What characterises frames from the Neoclassical period (from the 1760s to the early 19th century) are their simple, clean lines; cooler tones for gilding, over a light grey or bluish bole; and, from the 1790s, relatively shallow relief decoration.
Damborg frame: an offshoot of the 'Greek corner' pattern, Statens Museum for Kunst.
This morphed, in the 1830s, into a version of the French Greek corner frame, with plain rails and decorative scrollwork corners. Like Schinkel and von Klenze, Damborg worked almost exclusively with gilded frames, but, following a current trend, he also used Empire motifs cast in zinc and other metals to apply to his frames. These were both cheaper and cleaner in their form than compo ornaments.
'Silvered' frames were another variation, which became fashionable from the 1860s; they were either treated on the back and sight edges with a light-coloured gilding, or else black or yellow bole was used beneath silver leaf.
Damborg lace-ground frame, Statens Museum for Kunst.
The 1840s brought the Rococo revival frame, which was popular amongst the middle classes, reintroducing more curvaceous lines and projecting corners. This style also produced the lace-ground frame, where a plain convex or ogee rail was covered with a layer of fine fabric netting, which was then gilded over. The texture created in this way was comparable in the effect it aimed for (if not in skill and craftsmanship) to the cross-hatched or diapered réparure of the 18th century. Sanding, another 18th century technique, also created variety in the texture of areas on the frame. Damborg seems to have supplied frames in all these varying styles and techniques.
Contemporary gilders
Damborg, as court gilder, was the pre-eminent framemaker of his time, but there were many framemakers and gilders in the country, due to the 19th century increase in the demand for frames. One was L.A. Bjørn, gilder and undertaker, at 123, Brolæggerstræde, whose frames are good enough to be mistaken for Damborg's: maybe he was apprenticed to Damborg?
Another name associated with antique frames of good quality construction and gilding is that of C.O.A. Schieltved (1829-1891), the son of O.B. Schieltved, also a gilder. He was apprenticed as a gilder, figure maker and moulder at Den Kongelige Porcelænsfabrik (the Royal porcelain factory), and was admitted to the Danish Royal Academy in 1845, where Gustav Hetsch was his teacher. The framemaker's and gilder's trades are ancient, culminating in Denmark with the work of Damborg and his contemporaries, which forms one element in the Danish Golden Age of art.
Damborg acquired good technical knowledge during his early training in Germany and Austria, developing it to a high level of skill, and marrying with it an ability to identify and produce the appropriate frame for a particular of art. He was also generally restrained in his choice of ornamentation, mouldings, gilding etc., and in the style of his frames, subordinating them to the work of art; he also understood how to integrate them with contemporary interiors and furnishings (as in his collaboration with Hetsch at Christiansborg). At the Palace of Christiansborg he formed part of a team with Christian Hansen and Hetsch.
His manuscript reveals his theories as to restraint in ornament, and techniques such as how to enhance the gilding with areas of matt and burnish, and by the choice of bole. These refinements of his craft influenced his successors, and his frames were well-known. He was part of the flourishing artistic milieu of the Golden Age and accepted on an equal footing with contemporary artists.
Damborg's manuscript
Damborg's manuscript – 'A description of gilding on wood, together with other associated arts by Damborg, Bremen, 1822' [12] – is kept in the library of the Design Museum, Copenhagen. It describes in great detail the many technical and theoretical elements of gilding, and is divided into twelve chapters.
The first two chapters deal with gilding on wood, over a size and gesso ground, and gilding on an oil ground. Damborg writes as follows [13]:
'On soaking with size:
Soaking with size is carried out to saturate the wood and ensure that the ground does not flake off; without this sizing, the wood will absorb the glue in the gesso ground, causing the gesso to dry out and crumble away.
The process must be repeated twice, with very hot size, and, if the wood is open-grained or cross-cut, three times. It is of paramount importance that the size dries thoroughly before applying the ground, because the wood expands due to the moisture in the size and must dry again before the gesso is applied. If it is left to dry later, the ground, which has no elasticity, will peel off. Many gilders do not think ahead, and are mystified when the ground falls off. However, this may also be due to the wood being too oily or not dry enough, or having been felled at the wrong season when the sap was still up. With the latter sort of wood, the durability of the gilding cannot be guaranteed. It may also be due to the seasoning being hurried, so that the wood does not have sufficient time to dry. One needs to be very careful in this matter: most clients will neither understand nor believe it, and consequently regard it as the gilder's fault if the work flakes off.
For the size, take 1 pound of horn glue to approx. 4 quarts of water [1 quart = 1.145 litres]; in summer on very hot days a little less. Adjustments must also be made for the quality of the glue: obviously, more water can be added to good glue than to poor. As pine wood is the most usual wood for gilding, in which there are often sappy areas, note that these must be carefully cut out, or they will break through later. Sometimes there are also knots which must be covered with fine linen to make the ground durable on them; this can also be done with respect to joins.
On the ground:
Size of the same strength as above can be employed to lay the ground. Then, without stirring, add enough finely powdered gesso until it piles up above the surface of the size. Stir it well and squeeze it through a sieve, so that lumps and impurities remain behind. As chalk from Champagne and Bologna are not available in these northern parts, Danish or English chalk can be used; and, as these are very friable and lean, it is advisable to add some drops of olive oil to give the ground greater consistency. But the oil must be added when the ground is very hot, otherwise it will not mix and will cause problems. For large areas of burnish, the ground can be kept more compact so that more can be applied; contrariwise, for smaller decorations it must be finer and thinner to facilitate repairs.
An experienced craftsman will handle carved ornament so carefully that not even the finest contours lose their sharpness. When preparing the ground, it is advisable not heat up the whole of the mixture each time, as the water evaporates on repeated reheating and the ground becomes increasingly thick and hard; so only a small amount should be heated in a little pan. For the first layer, the ground may be thinned down with size quite a lot, and it must be applied very hot so that it can combine well with the size in solution. For subsequent layers it should only be lukewarm and no hotter, otherwise it will dissolve the lower layer and loosen it from the wood. When preparing large areas of ground for gilding, it should be applied it eight or nine times, pausing between each layer, except for the last. With smaller areas, fewer layers are needed; however, this must be left to the craftsman's discretion. When the surface has been given one layer of ground, it is filed off lightly with a wooden file so that the fine wooden nap that has risen during the process disappears and does not reappear on sanding. If there are any holes, these are filled with a putty of made of size and chalk.
Damborg's manuscript – 'A description of gilding on wood, together with other associated arts by Damborg, Bremen, 1822'
On repairs:
Only little can be said under this heading, because repairing is a skill which can only really be acquired through practice. This much is certain, however, that in repairing an object that has lost the gilding back to the ground, it must be brought back to its former state; and first and foremost the contours which are no longer smooth and clean must be given their proper definition and sharpness again. And frames and other pieces by the cabinetmaker with ornamental mouldings must be treated before polishing, so that all the areas in question regain their original form; above all, avoid the mistake of making straight pieces rounded to improve the sheen of the gilding, or of transforming convex mouldings to hollows to facilitate the gilding. Sometimes embellishments may be carved in the gesso; a description of this cannot, however, be given.
On polishing:
It is necessary during the polishing process to take care that the gesso ground is not abraded on the gilded sections, or that water does not lie too long in one place, so that it dissolves the ground.
Pumice, sandstone or horsetail are usually employed for this job. Sometimes wood and linen are also used, but this is only really possible on carved areas. Choose the most solid piece of pumice, because pumice with an open texture has a great many holes in which there are loose bits which may hinder the polishing. And if sandstone is employed, it must be dipped in boiling size after it has been cut into an appropriate shape, so that it does not leave grains of sand behind during the polishing. After everything has been smoothed down sufficiently, it is given one more polish with wet horsetail, and – before the bole is applied – one more with dry horsetail to make it all as smooth as can be.
On applying bole:
Armenian red bole
Two sorts of bole are used: red and yellow. The yellow is used for matt, the red for burnished gilding. The latter is prepared in the following fashion. Take:
Armenian bole (a red clay)… ¾ pound
White clay (pipe clay)… ¼ pound
Water lead (= molybdenum)… ½ measure (1 measure = 15.288 gm)
Raw wax… 3 quarts (1 quart = 1.145 litres)
Deer tallow… 3 quarts
Venetian soap… ½ measure
The two kinds of clay are powdered, and then the water lead is finely ground with water and dried. The soap is boiled in water and sieved through a piece of linen so that impurities remain behind. Wax and tallow are melted together in a clay pot. The powdered ingredients and the water lead are added and stirred until there is no more wax or tallow visible; then the soap solution is poured in and the mixture is allowed to stand on a low fire for 5-10 minutes, stirring continuously, so that everything is well mixed. Then take the bole off the fire and stir it together with lukewarm water, pour it into a pan and cover it well so that it is protected against dust or other impurities.
Pot with bole heating; in the workshop of F.C. Conzen, Düsseldorf.
Photo: Jannie Henriette Linnemann
Note: Not all well-water can be used for bole, as some of it contains traces of saltpetre, and is therefore very hard and consequently unsuitable for this purpose. In this case, the saltpetre must be removed by boiling, or rainwater or river water should be used instead.
Unless the water lead is of excellent quality, it will contain some sulphur; this is extracted over charcoal.
Yellow bole
Yellow bole is prepared in a similar fashion, as described above. The constituent parts are :
Dutch ochre… 1 pound
Pipe clay… ¼ pound
Red chalk (red ochre)… 3 quarts (1 quart = 1.145 litres)
Raw wax… 1 measure (= 15.288 gm)
Deer tallow… 1 measure
If red chalk is used to make red bole, it must be sublimated, but this is not necessary for yellow bole.
The bole is once again finely ground with water, and diluted with as much glue or size (made from horn clippings or parchment shavings) as necessary, so that it can be laid on properly. It is not easy to describe the strength of the size, as this depends on the weather and the different nature of the work. Thus, for example, on dry, hot days the size must be made stronger than on wet, cold days, and similarly it must be stronger for a weak gesso ground. However, this knowledge can only ne acquired through repeated practice. About 2 pounds of water to 1 measure of horn glue generally makes a gesso ground of suitable strength.
Before applying the bole, the object must be carefully cleaned of all dust; the ground must then be slaked: i.e. lukewarm size should be poured onto it, so that any fine dust which cannot be brushed away is firmly anchored, and the bole is provided with a surface to which it can grip firmly. Then the whole thing should be painted with two layers of yellow bole, and the parts to be burnished with two or three layers of red bole. Afterwards – when it is dry – it should be rubbed all over with a clean brush or woollen cloth, so that the gold can lie more evenly. The areas to be matt are brushed with bole size and spirits, so that not only does the gold adhere more evenly, but there will be fewer repairs to make in the leaf; however, care must be taken not to make the size too strong, otherwise the position of the leaves of gold and the joins between them will be too visible. The greatest cleanliness must be observed in this process. Large matt areas must be painted with bole again, so that the settling of the gold will be less noticeable. Some gilders also polish the bole with a gilder's agate, but this method is not very advisable, as it is impossible to remove the sheen completely afterwards.
A carver's & gilder's workshop, engraved illustration, 1858
When differentiating between burnished and matt gold, the gilder's taste must be respected; of course, it is arbitrary, but there are many instances where a rule may be made. For example, the skin or hair of figures should never be burnished, and this should only be very sparingly done on their garments. Nor should every leaf in a piece of foliage be burnished. Many gilders do not understand how burnishing can be misused, so they give a sheen to the eyes, ears and tail of a lion – and even the claws, and right up the haunches. Such workers are nothing but inferior craftsmen who are satisfied if only they can give their gilding a shine. They do not consider that the object is to be improved by gilding, and the work of the carver must not be crippled and disfigured in this way.
Nor should burnished hollows or bases be enriched with decoration; this is not the least attractive, but also renders the play of the mouldings indiscernible. Least of all should such over-enrichment highlighted with burnished gilding be found on picture frames, since this will not only be disadvantageous for the painting, but it will confuse the eye of the viewer and disturb him in his meditations. If picture frames are to have an appropriate effect, the largest areas must remain matt, especially those which are nearest the painting, so that the whole work may have a tranquil and harmonious appearance. Neither should all areas of the frame should be embellished.
A page in Peder Christian Damborg, Profilbog over Rammer, an album of original drawings of picture frame profiles; no date, Library of the Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen. Photo: Pernille Klemp
On gilding:
Gilding demands practical ability more than any theory; it cannot really be learnt from a written description, but only through frequent practice. The most important requirement of all is to lay the gold leaf on very evenly, without much overlapping; not only will gold be saved in this way, but the edges of the leaves will be less visible in matt gilding. Nor should too large an area be moistened at once with spirits, or the bole may be dissolved.
When large areas are to be gilded, the object must be tilted a little so that the spirits can run off more easily; if spirits remain lying on the surface – or if they run back under the gold – the gold would be contaminated and become patchy, especially if the bole has become a little too strong. In this situation, some water should be added to the spirits, thus diluting and weakening the bole. If, on the other hand, the bole has become too weak, the best solution is to wash it off again with a soft sponge and lukewarm water, and reapply it; since, even if the layer of bole is covered with a weak size, or if size is added to the spirits used to moisten the bole, the gilding will not be so successful. Such aids are only to be used in the last resort, if there is a great need for haste.
Gilding in the workshops of the Royal Collection Trust
The areas to be burnished are gilded first, and then burnished so that the matt areas are not harmed in the latter process. After this, the matt areas are gilded. Pure matt gilding is without any argument one of the most difficult tasks for a gilder, and few can boast of being able to do it well. If large surfaces need to be gilded in matt gold – wide hollows, for instance – the gold leaves must be cut very precisely and laid on smoothly, so that they do not overlap each other too much, since this is where the joins will be particularly visible. If a leaf should loosen, it should not be repaired at once but left to dry, and then swept off with a soft brush so that all the loose bits are removed. The small pieces of leaf employed to repair it should – as far as possible – not be cut larger than the hole to be covered, otherwise it will be very visible. When the area is dry again, it must be rubbed over once more with cotton (thoroughly clean cotton, so that there is nothing in it that can cause scratches in the gold). After that it must be covered with pure size and spirits, going 'with the grain', which means that the overlapping gold must not be rubbed up and prevented from lying flat, which would be very visible.
On matt gilding and contouring:
Pietro Andrea Mattiolo, Commentarii in VI. libros Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei De medica materia, 1674, Sorbus domestica (rowan berries)
The parts that are to be matt gilded are covered in a mattifying layer, to improve the finish and colour. For this process, take: gamboge, rowan berries and a little white cream of tartar (cremor tartari or potassium tartrate). The gamboge is dissolved in spirits, as is the cream of tartar, and the rowan berries are boiled in spirits, until they do not give off any more red colouring. All these ingredients are then mixed together, until the desired colour is attained, and then filtered through a piece of linen, and reserved until needed. This is simple and good recipe. Many gilders are great adherents of eggs for mattifying; however I do not find this particularly practicable…
Damborg Régence revival-style frame, Statens Museum for Kunst.
Photo: Riccardo Buccarella, SMK-foto [12] (page 136-137)
Jannie Henriette Linnemann
MAA in Architecture; graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (School of Architecture); studied under Professor Dan Sterup-Hansen, at the School of Graphic Art, and under Professor Poul Gernes at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (School of Sculpture), Charlottenborg; MA, Royal College of Art, London; BA in History of Art at the University of Copenhagen. Taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (School of Architecture) and the Danish College of Design. Employed from 1999 at Bruun Rasmussen's, auctioneers; consultant at Statens Museum for Kunst, Jørgen Rubow Centre (registration of picture frames in the Museum); running own school of art: drawing, watercolour techniques, oil techniques, colour theory, history of art etc., from 1994
Wilhelm von Bode & Herman Voss, Katalog der Ausstellung antiker Rahmen im Künstlerhaus, 1929, Berlin
Peder Christian Damborg, Beschreibungder Holzvergoldung nebst mehreren anderen in diesem Fache gehö– renden Arbeiten, handwritten manuscript dated Bremen, 1822
Peder Christian Damborg, Profilbog over Rammer, an album of original drawings of picture frame profiles; no date
Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, vol. 6, 1980, Gyldendal
Mirjam Gelfer-Jørgensen, Guldalderdrømmen, dansk nyklassicistisk møbelkunst 1790-1850, 2002, Forlaget Rhodos
Emil Hannover on Damborg in Tidsskrift for Kunstindustri, 1893, pp. 117-128
Angela Hückel, 'Vergoldungstechniken und Ornamentapplikationen. Deutsche Gemälde- rahmen im 19 Jahrhundert', Restauro, Callwey, 1990, Munich, vol. 2, pp. 96-104
Carl. Foredrag Møller on Damborg, published in Glarmester Tidende, 1923, no. 4-5
Erik Brønniche-Lange, 'Gamle rammer', Politikens samlerserie, 1955, Jeg er samler, 409-17
Bettina von Roenne, exh cat. Ein Architekt rahmt Bilder, Karl Friedrich Schinkel und die Berliner Gemäldegalerie, 4 May-31 July 2007
Beate Federspiel, questions about mediaeval gesso grounds, historical painting techniques, material and studio practice, University of Leiden, 26-29 June 1995, The Getty Conservation Institute
Paul Mitchell & Lynn Roberts, A history of European picture frames, 1996, London
[1] Beskrivelse af træforgyldningen samt flere andre til dette fag hørende arbejder af Damborg, Bremen, 1822. Translated by Mogens Møller from P.C. Damborg's manuscript, November 1969, pp. 1-30, p. 1
[2] 'Beschreibung der Holzver- goldung nebst mehreren anderen in diesem Fache gehörenden Arbeiten von Damborg', Bremen, 1822, p. 1
[3] See Emil Hannover's article, 'En gammel dansk Haandværker: P.C. Damborg' in Tidsskrift for Kunstindustri, Copenhagen, 1893, pp. 117-28, p. 118. This article forms, to a large extent, the basis of this essay; where other sources are employed, they are specifically credited. Particular thanks are due to Jens Heinet Knudsen, MA, for her helpful comments.
[4] Angela Hückel, 'Vergoldungstechniken und Ornamentapplikationen. Deutsche Gemälde- rahmen im 19 Jahrhundert', Restauro, 1990, Munich, vol. 2, pp. 96-104
[5] The riksdaler was the currency used before the krone, which was introduced in 1875
[6] Emil Hannover, op. cit., p. 121
[7] From information given to Emil Hannover by Damborg's widow, and which forms the basis of his article (ibid.), written when Damborg's manuscript was donated to the Design Museum Denmark, in about 1893
[8] From Carl Møller, 'En gammel dansk Haandværker', Glarmester Tidende, 1923, p. 7. Carl Møller builds almost entirely on Hannover's article.
[9] Ibid., pp. 6-7
[10] Angela Hückel, 'Vergoldungstechniken und Ornamentapplikationen. Deutsche Gemäl- derahmen im 19 Jahrhundert', Restauro, 1990, Muncih, vol. 2, pp. 96-104
[11] Bettina von Roenne, Ein Architekt rahmt Bilder
Karl Friedrich Schinkel und die Berliner Gemäldegalerie, exhibition catalogue, 2007
[12] Damborg's manuscript was translated into Danish by Mogens Møller (November, 1969, pp. 1- 30); library of the Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen
[13] Ibid; chapters 1 -2, pp. 1-9


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Are Iranian Threats for Real?
Filed under: Israel — qwertster @ 1:54 AM
Tags: Hamas, Iran, Iranian, Islam, Islamic Jihad, Israel, Lebanon, Quran, Saudi Arabia, Shia, Sunni, Syria, United States, Yemen
If the Iranian threats are real, then what should or even can the rest of the world do to prepare? Iran regularly threatens Israel both from Tehran and out of Lebanon using Hezballah and Islamic Jihad and Hamas out of Gaza. Iran also is almost as consistent in threatening the United States from rallies in Tehran. We realize that part of the reason for these rallies where "Death to Israel, death to America" is because it is chanted most often on Friday afternoon after services. The problem is that the Western World measures the Iranian actions according to Western Judeo-Christian ethics expecting that they would be reasonable and negotiations would serve to mitigate any differences. The real problem is that the Western World has given up completely on any single nation conquering the Earth. What the West is missing out on is that the rest of the world has not given up on world conquest. Iran definitely believes that they will conquer the world and force Shia Islam onto the entire population using threats of convert or death. This is an intricate part of the philosophy encased in the Quran where Allah has promised that Islam will rule the entire planet and force the world to convert to Islam. What it does not tell is whether Shia Islam or Sunni Islam will be the version which will conquer the world. But the one thing which matters is that both Sunni and Shia Muslims believe that they are to be the eventual conquerors of Earth.
Iran is not the only nation which believes they should conquer the world and place all humankind under their rule. These nations are not democratic nations and instead choose dictatorial leaders who rule absolutely. Hamas's original charter specified that once they destroyed Israel, they would then take their Islamic revolution to the rest of the world and genocidally murder every Jew everywhere on Earth before forcing all to convert to Islam. The Islamic State at their most powerful also insisted that they were chosen to conquer the world for Islam. The same can be stated about al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood and numerous other Islamic leaders. Then there is the Communist threat which China poses as they intend to spread their form of governance. These are just scratching the surface as who knows where the next threat might arise just as we likely never anticipated ISIS before they exploded on the scene and conquered an area the size of many nations and far larger than Israel. The Western World will be required to wake to the threat which is most ascendant at the current time, and that threat is Iran. Much of the Sunni Islamic world currently appear to be satisfied to currently wait for a future period to rise to take the world. What it would require would be a charismatic leader who could unite the entirety of the Sunni Islam into a single power. Shia Islam has already been set to be unified under Iran as they control Iraqi Shia, Yemenis Shia, Syrian Shia and Lebanese Shia in what many refer to as the Shiite Crescent (see map below). This is the spread of IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and even Iranian regular army. Iran is also utilizing Hezballah in Syria and Yemen as well as threatening Israel from Lebanon.
Shiite Crescent including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran
Their control of Yemen, which has not been completed, places Iranian aligned forces surrounding Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Iran is in control of the Strait of Hurmuz and with Yemen they control the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. This provides them with the ability to threaten the oil shipments from the Middle East and shut the Suez Canal by closing off the mouth of the Red Sea. Iran has taken strategic points to control which could easily lead to an isolated Europe cut off from Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Islands. If one were planning to conquer the world using Iran as the central force, this would be the exact tactics which could set up such a threat becoming reality. Iran appears to be waiting for Europe to become overrun by Islamic "refugees" who will refuse to assimilate and instead insist that their religion be granted absolute rule. Then, Iran hopes that if they are able to destroy or conquer Israel or Saudi Arabia that this will influence the majority of Muslims to change from Sunni to Shia Islam. Iran has already laid out their plan for the conquest of Saudi Arabia and the removal of the Saudi Royal Family which the Iranian leaders claim are apostates. Their intent would be to attack the northeastern oil fields which has a majority Shia population while attacking from Yemen taking Mecca and Medina, the Two Holy Cities. This would remove the mystic which the Saudi Royal Family use to remain in power, namely their oil money to bribe the Wahabi clerics and they would lose their title as protectors of the holy cities which would, according to Iran, steal from the Saudi Royals their main pillars of support which could lead to serious opposition from the Saudi population.
Strait of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait
The Iranian leadership will not remain patient forever and eventually they will launch attacks either at Saudi Arabia, Israel or the United States and any combination thereof. But there is one item which the Iranian Mullahs ignore at their own peril, or so we can all pray. The average Persian citizen largely go through the motions of following Shia Islam while many also follow the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism, at least according to Amil Imani in a recent article. This provides an opportunity for the Western World to assist the Iranians who attempted to challenge the Mullahs but were basically sold down the river by President Obama as he desired making an agreement through which he could guarantee that Iran becomes a nuclear armed nation but not until he will have left office. This was the Green Revolution of 2009. Should the Iranian people rise up against their theocratic dictatorial governance where the actual leadership decide who are permitted to run for office making sure that the government will always behave properly and fully support everything the Mullahs, and specifically the Supreme Leader and Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. For those who hold out hope that when a new Supreme Leader is chosen when Ali Khamenei passes will be more moderate, allow us to point out that every politician the West believed were moderates would fall in line behind the Supreme Leaders and enforce his every whim. Ali Khamenei is simply following the exact political plans which originated with the former Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who initiated the Iranian revolution of 1979 with the blessings of President Jimmy Carter who claimed that as a cleric, Ruhollah Khomeini would be a man of peace and was the first American politician to claim that Islam was the religion of peace.
Perhaps some of the State Department leadership need to read the Quran, realize that the Medina Quran has overruled the peaceful beliefs of the Meccan Quran. Islam divides the world into two worlds, Dar al Islam, where Islam had established rule and is thus to be considered a world at peace, and Dar al-Harb, the world of war which has yet to be conquered by Islam. That is the reality which the world is simply standing around twiddling their thumbs waiting for Iran to obtain a sizable nuclear armaments with missiles capable of delivering them anywhere on the planet, and even then, the West will wait for Iran to pick and choose when and where they wish to initiate their world conquest. What is really sad is that should Iran decide to begin with Israel, the world will stand by with their hands in their pockets claiming what a great loss it was to lose Israel. This will be the statements coming from Europe and probably the United States after President Trump before Iran even actually attacks as Iran will study the reactions of the rest of the Western leadership as they increasingly threaten to destroy Israel. Israel will very likely be the Czechoslovakia of the coming World War. Fortunately, we in Israel are aware, at least those of us who are pragmatic enough to realize that the world is not exactly going to come running to aid Israel, and Iran is simply waiting for the United States to join Europe in being critical of Israel willing to blame Israel for their being threatened and attacked by Iran. This war is coming, potentially in stages which very readily start with attacks upon Israel. After Israel, expect Jordan to be the next and then Saudi Arabia and as long as the United States remains hands off, Iran will expand and expand taking one nation after another, slowly so as to allow the world to return to a state of calm before advancing to the next victim. For those who claim this is nonsense, Iran has already absorbed Iraq, Yemen, Syria and long-ago Lebanon without even much of a peep from the world, specifically the United Nations who regularly blames Israel for the aggressions from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezballah, all in the name and at the direction of Iran. Does anybody really believe things will get any better?
Iran Does Not Want War with America; Really?
Tags: Hamas.Hezballah, Iran, Iranian, Islam, Islamic Jihad, Islamic World, Israel, Mecca.Medina, middle east, President Trump, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Royal Family, Shia Islam, Sunni Islam, Syria, United Nations, United States
Well, actually, Iran does not want war with America…….now. Iran does desire an excuse to have a war which includes the fleets off of their shores, but they have a deeper desire which allows for this as simply a necessity. Their current desire is to fight America in their region while using such a conflict in order to instigate a war with Israel. Iran intends to replace the United States and any other contenders for the hegemonic power in the world. Iranian leadership actually sees one main obstacle to their initial steps in their hope to eventually be a world power and leader of the allied world. Please do not believe that only the United States and other powers are able to forge coalitions, Iran also seeks to form a coalition which will grant them hegemony over the Middle East and control of the oil within. Iran also seeks to gain control over the Islamic holy cities, Mecca and Medina, currently under Saudi control. Iran desires to take the Saudi, Kuwaiti and Gulf States oil fields as well as taking the region where Saudi Arabia borders on the Red Sea giving them control over Mecca and Medina. Their reasoning behind this place is plainly obvious, they would have control of approximately one-third of the world's oil supplies, take over being the protector of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and remove the claim to power held by the Saudi Royal Family, who claim to be the protectors of the holy cities, Mecca and Medina. But the true Iranian desire is to completely destroy Israel and being able to claim they restored the rule of Allah in Jerusalem (al Quds). This is one of the two main reasons for the Iranian involvement in Syria backing Bashar al-Assad. The other reason is to gain and retain control over Damascus, the third actual city in the Islamic hierarchy of metropolitan areas which have holiness. For the Iranians and all other Shiite Muslims, the city of Qom is also amongst the holiest places on Earth. Qom is the location where the Twelfth Imam is supposed to return after, shall we say, a rather lengthy absence from the scene. This Imam disappeared and went into hiding towards the end of the initial violence between Sunni Islam and the new offshoot, Shia Islam. The rumor being that he hid deep in a well and is to return and lead Shiite Islam to their rightful world domination. This well is in Qom, Iran.
Most of the Western Media and almost all of the heavily anti-Israel world media are touting Iran as the coming savior which will finally eradicate that Zionist monstrosity at the east end of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel. All one need do is listen to almost any of the regularly held Friday afternoon hate-fests, an even very reminiscent of the 1984 Two Minutes of Hate, just more drawn out. These demonstrations are often accompanied with the burning of Israeli and American flags as well as the burnings of Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump in effigy. These are often accompanied by chants of, "Death to Israel," and, "Death to America." These demonstrations are often attended by numerous high-ranking Iranian politicians, including those the West labels as moderate, and even the Supreme Leader who has been known to lead these chants of hate and spite towards the developed world. Iranian leaders often make allusions to their former glory years as Persia while continuing to persecute those people who continue to follow the ancient religious practices of the Zoroastrianism. Their relating their greatness to ancient Persia while continuing to imprint the Islamic conqueror's Islamic faith is very much part of their having fully adopted this conquering faith of Islam. Iran not only has accepted Islam as the replacement for the ancient Persian faiths but have adopted the less followed Islamic cult of Shia Islam.
The first idea for supremacism under Shia Islam is the conquest of the Islamic world. The Iranian Mullahs view the destruction of Israel and the eradication of the Jewish faith as their ticket to Islamic prevalence. They believe that if they can become the party of Islam which destroys Israel that the remaining Muslims in the world will suddenly awaken to the supremacy of Shia Islam. It is their belief that they are the one, and definitely not Saudi Arabia, whose leaders they label as apostates, or Egypt which they see as far too nationalistic. Whenever others claim that Iran is also following a supremacist conquest of the Middle East, the fig leaf applied to their nurturing conquest being that of the purification of Islam. Iran sees itself as the Martin Luther of Islam and leading the revolution against the tired and former glories of Sunni Islamic conquest and replacing them with the more energetic and purist Shiite Islam and then from replacing Saudi Arabia and Egypt they see an easy path claiming their supremacy throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. Their intent then with the destruction of Israel is on a par with their desires to replace Egypt and Saudi Arabia as the nation at the fore of Islam, Islamic thought, Islamic belief and Islamic teachings. Because they are the ones who have been chosen to lead Islam and the future world, their initial test is to destroy Israel, take the Saudi Oil Fields, replacing the Saudi Royal family as the guardians of the two sacred cities and taking over Egypt and converting these Muslims to Shiite Islam from which the rest of the Islamic world will no doubt see the light. With such conquests under their belts, they believe the entirety of the remaining Islamic followers will fall behind their leadership and place them as the true Islamic leaders leaving behind the centuries under Sunni Islam and joining its main rival. This would then be followed by a rewriting of the various Islamic historical thought with supremacist Sunni ideology.
Currently, the leaders of Iran view Israel as one of the protectors of Sunni Islam as they view Israel as allied with and protecting Saudi Arabia and the plethora of other peoples and forces that the Iranians are currently engaged. The Mullahs often blame Israel for their setbacks in replacing Sunni Islam with Shia Islam. The disagreement and war between Sunni and Shia Islam are almost as old as the Islamic faith. Their split, as many such dichotomies are, is over who was the rightful heir to Muhammad with each side choosing a different individual and their family lineage on to the current separate leaderships across the Muslim world. Iran also intends to not only impose their version of a perfect form of Islam traceable all the way back to Muhammad, but to replace all religious belief in the world with Shiite Islam providing those they conquer the choice of Islam or a very hurried trip to the world beyond life. These efforts by Iran currently spread across Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Syria, Lebanon and beyond, reaching far beyond the constraints of the Islamic world. Iran has implemented a structure of military control whereby they can use their IRGC military assets to foment terror across the globe and spreading their influence across Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and beyond to the Tri-Border Region in South America with the hopes and visions to spread Shiite Islam further. It is the Iranian intent to use this region as their jumping-off point from which to conquer the Americas striking at the United States through its southern borders. Iran and their Hezballah proxy have already been caught attempting to slip terror forces into the United States across her southern borders.
Tri-Border Region of South America Terror training haven and Iranian proxy state in the Americas and Base of operations for the 17 March 1992 Israeli Embassy Bombing murdering 29 injuring 242 and the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) 18 July 1994 bombing murdered 85 injured over 800 and now we must add the murdered Argentine Prosecutor Alberto Nisman to AMIA fatalities
One of the major fronts developing in the Middle East involves Iran and the United States. Thus far, Iran has been the one initiating a conflict almost as if they relish a chance to prove their superiority over the United States who they largely blame along with the British for the existence of Israel. They blame the British for allowing Israel in the first place and the United States presumably for allying with Israel from her inception. Beyond recognition of the Jewish States, American aid and support did not start until the 1970's. But what is one more lie amongst the myriad of lies piled up by the forces of the world against the Jewish State. Review the logs of the United Nations and her various agencies and one will find Israel as the primary target by the remainder of the world and the Iranian fervor and fire used when referring to the country of Israel. Iran is the primary supporter for Hamas, Hezballah, Bashir al-Assad, Islamic Jihad and numerous other forces which are allied together for the destruction of Israel. Iran does not desire there be a resolution and instead desires to replace continued warfare across the Middle East as conflict and confusion are two of the best weapons used by Iran and her forces with confusion as their favorite weapon behind which there is always their blanket of misinformation placing all blame upon their enemies and espousing their victim status as the offended party only there to defend their good and peaceful name and version of Islam, Shia Islam. Iran couches their claims within the various quotes from within the Quran which denounces the Jews and their Sunni enemies while claiming that Iran is forming the new Caliphate, once Iran manages to convert the bulk of Islam to their way of thinking.
Iran believes they can win any conflict with the United States in the Middle East theaters of operation. They also believe that Israel is unable to stand on her own were the United States forced to flee the region after realizing the foremost capacities of the Iranian forces and their masterful superiority. Funny how delusions of greatness almost inevitably lead to one's downfall. Such is particularly valid when selling the United States short just as has been proven by scoffing at the abilities of Israel. Iran has intentionally placed themselves on the wrong side of both of these fronts and has of late been attempting to force a confrontation in the region's waters with the American fleets. Their method has been to disable ships passing through the Straits of Hormuz while not sinking them, yet. Despite their intent to simply give the United States a bloody nose and sending them whimpering from the Middle East, their bluster and methods are more likely to lead to a direct and immediate confrontation with America. The main reason such has yet to begin is a credit to the patience of America and not to any careful planning by Iran.
Contrary to Iranian claims and the anti-Trump politics in America that it is the United States seeking a confrontation, it has been the patience and desire to avoid all-out war by President Trump which have thus far avoided such a conflict. When Iran pressed a confrontation shooting down an American drone presumably, and likely, in international airspace, it was President Trump who made the final decision to recall the American strike. Rumors have circulated of a difference of opinion over responding militarily and with strength put forward by John Bolton and Trump's hopes to force negotiations without forcing direct confrontation being at the forefront of United States Iranian policies. President Trump seeks to use sanctions and other pressures to force Iran to the negotiation table that is becoming the primary American policy which we fear Iran will interpret as weakness and inevitably leading to the conflict Trump desires to avoid. Iran will likely eventually attack either shipping through the Straits of Hormuz or upon the American fleets, specifically an aircraft carrier, the stated preferred target by Iran, which could very easily light off the violence which has a great potential for breaking out. This is the unfortunate but likely end result of this face-off over the Iranian nuclear program. Iran is currently backing out of all their presumed obligation in the Iran Nuclear Deal which Europe and Iran remain signatories through the United Nations which is threatening to provoke conflict. Iran recently announced their intent to return to uranium enrichment to twenty-percent which is the greatest threat. Such enrichment in quantity can only be for a singular purpose, the manufacture of nuclear weapons. As Iran most certainly already posses the technology to produce such weapons and that they probably already possess a number of nuclear weapons which should worry the world and not the fact that President Trump pulled out of an agreement which would have most certainly led to a nuclear armed Iran with as many weapons as they are able to produce. Further, the Iranian leaders, both political and military, though there is little difference between the two, in which they claimed that they would sacrifice their entire nation if they are able to take Israel and the United States down with themselves. This is the same frightening position taken by Japan in the Pacific theater which led to the devastating battles during World War II. Iran has even invited the onset of World War III if that is what is required to end their perceived American and Israeli hegemony in the world.
It is the supremacist view of the Iranian Mullahs which will force any confrontation and eventually President Trump will run out of patience which will force a response to some future Iranian provocation. When such eventuality forces the confrontation, we will witness the Iranians complaining that it was the United States which forced this confrontation because they refused to comply with Iranian demands. This has been the Mullahs playbook from the onset of this situation and in other cases of the past such as their violent putting down of the Green Revolution in 2009. They blame their adversaries for starting the violence when mostly they were unarmed, as in the Green Revolution which was largely peaceful protests which were set upon by IRGC forces and Basenji militias. The same will come whenever the Iranians push the envelope too far and the United States responds. The claim will be that Iran was simply safeguarding their own waters and the United States violations of Iranian waters or airspace and not the Iranian assaults which will have set off the conflict. One needs to keep in mind that Iran claims that all of the Straits of Hormuz as their waterway which set off the last burst of conflict between the United States and Iran. This time promises to be of little difference. IRGC naval commanders have already claimed that the United States has parked their carrier fleets in Iranian waters. Such would be preposterous if it were not so serious. The American fleets are nowhere near the Iranian shores but Iran is claiming that the United States has no right to have fleets anywhere in the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea as these are all part of Iranian sovereignty. Iran will continue to press and prick at the United States until a conflict is the only means of ending the stalemate. This will be the point that Iran will order their forces around Israel to begin what they claim will be the destruction of Israel within hours. This will entail rockets and other military assaults from Hezballah in Lebanon, the IRGC in Syria and Hamas with Islamic Jihad from Gaza very probably aided with ballistic missiles fired from Iran and potentially Iraq upon Israel most likely targeting Tel Aviv primarily. When Israel responds, Iran will blame Israel for starting any further conflict as the proper response in their minds would be for Israel to surrender to the presumed superior Islamic forces and come begging and whimpering for their Islamic betters to be kind and allow them to just enjoy their protections. Iran has already made numerous jabs at Israel using rockets, drones and tunneling under the border to which Israel has responded with care not to force the situation beyond each insult. When Israel responds to these aggressions, the Iranian leaders immediately claim that Israel is pushing for a war with Iran despite the fact that Israel has not fired a single weapon into Iranian lands. It is Iran that has placed forces in Syria, armed and trained Hezballah in Lebanon and is currently doing all they can to further arm Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Israel has remained within her borders even when striking back at the Iranian missile launchers and artillery in Syria firing their missiles from aircraft still in Israeli airspace. But Iran will not be satisfied until they have provoked a war with Israel and presumably the United States. Our hope is that the Iranian people can be saved from these militaristic, supremacist belligerents. This might also prove to be the best step for saving the world from a future heavily armed nuclear Iran choosing the when and where they begin their intentioned war for the proper conquest of the world by Shia Islam of which they are its ruling elites and proper world rulers if the rest of us only knew what was best for us.
Will Anyone Wake-up to Iran?
Tags: Centrifuges, enrichment, Iran, Iranian, Israel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Missiles, Nuclear Bomb, Nuclear Device, President, United States, Uranium, Weapons
We are not speaking of their bellicose threats to close the Straits of Hormuz or blowing the American fleet out of the Persian Gulf or any of their various threats targeting Israel and the Jews in general. We are not referencing their actions against the Kurds and Sunni of Iraq or their war in Syria or the arming of Hezballah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Nor is it the threats they use targeting Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. What we are alluding to is their nuclear program and their preparing to ramp up their production of enriched uranium. There are probably numerous reasons for their preparations beyond simply readying for the eight to ten years to elapse before they are to be permitted to manufacture all the nuclear weapons both in numbers and varieties under the specification of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). As to exactly when the Iranians are to be free to pursue nuclear weapons under the JCPOA is a difficult date to perceive as it appears that each nation and organization which partook of the talks ended up with their own copy and no two copies were even near identical. The strictest of the disparate copies belonged to President Obama who proudly claimed a great victory. The next strictest copy appears to have gone to the European representatives with theirs all being largely the same. Then the Russian and Chinese got copies which very few have ever bothered to peek inside to see what they received and Iran has its own copy which they hold close to their chest preventing anyone from seeing that copy. Needless to say, each copy apparently was tailored to satisfy the recipients, which makes for some serious questions when it comes to what Iran believes the treaty stated and what everyone else thinks. The wording and different interpretations of the JCPOA have left the world without any real idea as to what was actually agreed upon or whether everybody was permitted to leave the table believing whatever they desired most. Europe got to trade openly with Iran, Russia and China were going to do whatever they desired anyways and the United States was given a copy which permitted the President to declare a great victory. Even with the copy that President Obama touted was no great achievement as its major restrictions on Iran preventing their becoming a nuclear power had a time limit of anywhere from eight to twelve years depending on your source, as we recall hearing these unequal numbers of years before Iran was cut loose from all restrictions.
So, this is where we stand. According to channel 13 News in Israel, "Israeli intelligence has identified a huge acceleration in Iran's preparations for the resumption of uranium enrichment." Assuming that the Iranian copy of the treaty had the mere eight years limiting their production of nuclear weapons, it very likely would have permitted preparations to begin somewhat sooner. Further, Iran, specifically the Supreme Leader and others who actually have power and rule Iran never really accepted the deal as having anywhere near as strict a regimen as was implied by President Obama plus they believe that perhaps they no longer need to abide by all of the deal as the United States officially voided their participation. This latest revelation by Israeli intelligence was likely announced in part to provide President Trump with information which he may or may not have received from the CIA and other American intelligence sources. We can fully expect that the Europeans could not care less what Iran does in regards to nuclear weapons as long as they are making money and trading freely. That has been their apparent interest in Iran which they doubled down upon by establishing means by which their trade with Iran could continue while getting around the sanctions placed on Iranian companies, banks and oil sales. Russia and China will continue with their own approaches and dealings with Iran also with little if any regard to the American sanctions. By all actions taken into consideration, the nations which appear to be most concerned over the Iranian nuclear program are the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Egypt. Interestingly, this list also very closely resembles the nations which have been most threatened by Iran, which likely explains their concerns.
Now to go a little further and investigate possibilities. What is often ignored was the original agreement made between Iran with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (the EU 3). When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected as the Iranian President in August of 2005, he referred to the negotiators as treasonous and negated Iranian participation in this treaty. This led to all kinds of diplomatic attempts and other means of forcing Iran to meet their obligations all to no avail. Sanctions did not force any result until after Ahmadinejad had left office and only then was Iran willing to restart negotiations which included the P5+1 and Iran. This eventually led to the JCPOA. What we find to be an oversight is even if Iran had not developed nuclear weapons before their agreement with the EU 3, in the years when Ahmadinejad was President Iran very likely was going with great haste and high expectations to manufacture as many nuclear weapons as their equipment would permit. Even if they had not manufactured a single nuclear weapon before Ahmadinejad, they definitely had the time to enrich sufficient uranium, import the special metals, capacitors and timing flash circuits to produce any variety of nuclear weapon they desired. But allow us to simplify everything and simply point to the diagram below taken off of the web. The design is far from a top-secret plan kept hidden away in some remote government vault as are the designs of more powerful atomic fission bombs. Even though designs are also found for thermonuclear devices, these are far more difficult to produce and do take a great deal of time and manufacturing. The gun type bomb was so sure in the design that the United States never tested one before its usage on Japan. The main difficulty in such a device is the enriched uranium, which was merely seventy percent Uranium 235, and the machining of the plug and target, both made of uranium, such that their fit would produce a rapid enough chain reaction to create the desired explosion. Apparently, the scientists on the Manhattan Project were very sure of their designs and the quality of their machinists. So, those who wish to claim that Iran would have difficulty in even designing a nuclear device are fooling themselves and those who believe them.
The next thing is to believe that Iran was incapable of producing sufficient fissile material to produce such a device. The problem here is they would only require enrichment to a lower extent than for the more complex devices, especially a hydrogen bomb. Iran has had the capability of enrichment to seventy percent or thereabouts since they first developed or bought centrifuges, granted they had to be advanced centrifuges, and began enriching uranium as fuel for their nuclear reactors. Well, that was their reason given for such a need despite being supplied with fissile material by Russia. It is even possible that Iran refined some of the Russian provided fuel as their secrecy has made any verification next to impossible. Further, what do people think Iran was doing during the eight years while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was President of Iran and obsessed with obtaining nuclear weapons, in his case the biggest and most destructive kind possible, but at least some made to the specifications above if he could not have something superior. For any who doubt our reasoning and validity of information, below is a picture of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visiting an enrichment plant with fairly advanced centrifuges easily capable of enriching uranium to the level required for production of a simple nuclear device. These centrifuges were spinning as fast and to as full a capacity as was possible for the entirety of the eight years he was in office and for how long after is anybody's guess. Apparently, the Iranians are preparing to wind-up their more advanced centrifuges for full production in the not too distant future, which can mean only one thing, they are preparing to produce additional weapons.
We hear a few gasps asking why we would claim they are going to make additional weapons; don't you mean start making weapons. Ahmadinejad, during his eight years as president, had an opportunity to produce very likely dozens if not far more bombs of the gun type and possibly a number of fusion bombs, thermonuclear devices. The reason for the hesitation on declaring his ability to produce many such weapons is due to the difficulty in obtaining or producing the required isotopes of hydrogen and other elements required for such a device. The next question would be about their having sufficient uranium, specifically as yellowcake, Iran has three uranium mines at Saghand, Yazd and Gachin (see map below), and has scientists capable of producing the necessary yellowcake from the ore. Further, there are other nations who gladly trade yellowcake for raw uranium ore as it is just another means of doing business the old barter style method. Many of Iran's nuclear scientists were educated and worked in the United States and across Europe receiving a top rate education which they have employed upon returning to Iran. Iran is not as backwards a nation as many have been led to believe and has a very educated population. Iranian literacy rates are over eighty-percent of the population being literate. Their higher education has two tracks, one Quranic and the other emphasizes sciences. Their education system is more than up to the task of producing the engineers and scientists required by Iran for any purpose they might desire. So, believing that Iran has not manufactured nuclear devices is pure folly and quite dangerous.
Iranian Nuclear Sites and Uranium Mines
Additionally, some of the Iranian leadership, specifically military leadership, have made references to Israel being a two-bomb nation and their ability to take out the entirety of the United States aircraft carrier fleets in the Persian Gulf with a single bomb. Both of these threats imply some form of nuclear device or extremely advanced EMP devices. The references to Israel have included referencing using nuclear weapons, a threat they would never make without the ability to follow through with their threat. Further, the world has witnessed their progress with ballistic missiles plus their having launched satellites into low Earth orbits. Many of these launches have utilized a north to south orbit taking them over the poles. This is of interest as this orbit has also been practiced by North Korea and is a known Soviet and Chinese orbit of interest as it can be utilized to approach the United States from their southern approach which is presumed to be a weakness in the United States anti-missile defenses. Iran has known ballistic missiles which can reach as far as at least four-thousand kilometers and very likely they are in possession of ICBMs capable of striking anywhere on the planet according to the Brookings Institution (see images below). What becomes quite obvious from a glance at their missiles is that much of the world, if not all of the world, is easily within their range. Now add that for many of their missiles with ranges up to two thousand kilometers (and potentially four thousand kilometers) they have systems by which they can be carried and fired from freighter container ships from anywhere in the world, and these ships make near perfect disguises making tracking them somewhat of a challenge.
Iranian Rocket Types and Varieties of Ranges
So Iran has the necessary missiles and technologies for striking anywhere on Earth and has had more than sufficient time, energy, abilities and desires to build quite a few nuclear devices which minimally would produce twenty to fifty kilotons, that is from slightly more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japan near the end of World War II to as much as three times as powerful. This is excluding their having produced thermonuclear devices whose yields start at fifty kilotons to as high as fifty-megatons of TNT, the most powerful such weapon tested, though it is thought that yields could reach one-hundred megatons with a simple modification. We would suspect that Iran would probably have thermonuclear devices, relatively few in number, reaching yields of ten to twenty megatons at best and that they would have no more than one dozen such weapons. All this which deals with the Iranian nuclear stockpiles has been conjecture on our part as we do not possess any ability for intelligence gathering and have made much of our conjectures based on algorithms and the use of extrapolation combined with our own derived set of expectations of Iranian abilities and other evidence we have observed laced throughout the news of the last few decades. We hope that we have overestimated the abilities of the Iranian scientists but fear we may have been too conservative in our estimates.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home » Networking » Visibility Schmizibility: How One Meaningful Word Lost Its Power
Networking / January 13, 2020
Visibility Schmizibility: How One Meaningful Word Lost Its Power
Karl Van den Bergh
It's been called the next big thing in cyber and you'll be hard pressed to find a tech company not touting this term. But has visibility been so overhyped that it has lost its meaning?
What do meteorology, optometry and the security industries have in common? They all talk about visibility. A lot.
Lately, I've been amused at how prevalent and almost meaningless the term has become, specifically in the security sector. It seems to now refer to everything under the sun from email security to firewall projection, which is incredibly confusing to potential buyers. Even companies that provide endpoint protection tout visibility in ways that, ironically, aren't completely clear. How can you claim visibility when you're protecting only a small piece of a company's infrastructure?
But it's not just amusing, it's also alarming that so many security providers promote visibility capabilities when they're simply looking at endpoints or tacking it on as a mere function of a larger tool, like a firewall. Tools are useful, but they are also limited. They were never designed to enable visibility, so when you ask a tool to suddenly become a visibility catch-all, it gets confused. It becomes cumbersome and can no longer perform to its expected parameters.
Overplayed and Undervalued
Not only is the term inappropriate in many cases, but it's also incredibly overused. And when an entire industry over-rotates on a word, the intended audience inevitably becomes numbed to its effect and the term loses its impact.
I've been pondering this issue since one of our last marketing meetings when the word popped up yet again and my first reaction was to retort "Visibility Schmizibility!" Not the most eloquent response to a colleague, I'll admit. Yet, these ridiculous words sparked an immediate response. Suddenly, we were all talking about a very real issue plaguing the industry as a whole: the blatant overuse (read: abuse) of a once incredibly powerful word that's now losing its meaning.
Hold Up. Can We Get Back to What Visibility Actually Means?
This is one of the issues with visibility — people tend to have either a broad or specific meaning attached to the term because of its versatility. It gets jumbled along the way because, as noted, it is prevalent in several industries, not just technology.
The term "visibility" means different things to different sectors but at its core it's simple. It boils down to how well you can see something.
Why Is Visibility so Overhyped in Security?
As digital initiatives have accelerated across organizations of every size, IT infrastructure has become exponentially more complex. This has resulted in the inability of IT teams to see and understand what is happening in their environments and, therefore, effectively manage security and performance. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by Forrester Research of 1000 CISOs worldwide, IT complexity ranked as their number one challenge.*
This challenge is real and needs to be addressed. Much in the way that an optometrist helps her patients see the world more clearly, we need to help IT teams see their environments more clearly so they can quickly detect issues.
The problem, however, is that every vendor in security now uses this term because they know it's a top pain point for customers. It's another trend they've spotted, and they're ready to peddle it whether or not they've got the clout to back it up. This really becomes an issue when organizations begin looking at visibility like it's just another feature or tool to add to their offerings.
Let's Be Very Clear: Visibility Is not a Feature or a Tool
At its core, visibility is a design philosophy in how to build modern IT infrastructure. It starts with understanding that the only path to effectively managing security and performance in the complex world of digital applications is to be able to see all the information in motion, from raw packets to application metadata, flowing across the hybrid infrastructure. And this capability needs to be built in as a foundational component of the infrastructure and network design.
Visibility Is Foundational to Digital Transformation
Only with this foundation in place can every network performance and security tool and the IT professionals leveraging these tools become effective in executing their assigned tasks. Without this capability, the infrastructure that needs to be agile, reliable and secure in order to support digital innovation, becomes rigid, unstable and exposed to security blind spots as staff attempt to manage with a patchwork of tools that only see part of the picture.
However, with true visibility in place, previously frustrated IT teams can go from complete chaos to total clarity, no matter the complexity of their network, becoming essential partners to the business as it drives digital transformation.
So, yes, the word visibility is overhyped, but let's not discount the fact that what it represents is more critical than ever and must be at the heart of any digital initiative for it to be successful and for the business to ultimately succeed.
* Pollard, Jeff, and Paul McKay. "Forrester." Build Your Security Organization, January 31, 2019. https://services.forrester.com/report/Build Your Security Organization/-/E-RES148197.
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