Artist follows gold quality (4)
I believe the answer is:
aura
'quality' is the definition.
(aura is a kind of quality)
'artist follows gold' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'follows' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'gold' becomes 'au' ('Au' can be a synonym of 'gold'**).
'ra' put after 'au' is 'AURA'.
(Other definitions for aura that I've seen before include "Perception of distinctive personality" , "Distinctive atmosphere surrounding person or thing" , "Distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person" , "Ambience; vibes" , "'Air, atmosphere (4)'" .)