PÉNICAUD, Nardon

French enameller, part of a family of enamellers active in Limoges. Nardon Pénicaud was the founder of first dynasty of enamellers in Limoges. He produced polychrome enamels of religious subjects borrowing details from woodcuts. He was one of the earliest masters to exercise a style that contrasted dramatically with the vivid colours employed in the earlier champlevéGLOSSARYA technique dating from Roman times or earlier, in which grooves cut in the surface of a thick metal plaque (usually of bronze or copper, but sometimes of gold) are filled with enamel and fired. The glass powder melts filling the carved areas with solid glass. period. Enamels painted in Lyon were dark and sombre, reflecting the pessimism prevalent during the Reformation.