Gold gives artist quality (4)
I believe the answer is:
aura
'quality' is the definition.
(I know that aura is a type of quality)
'gold gives artist' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'gold' could be 'au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold) and 'au' is found within the answer.
'artist' could be 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts) and 'ra' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aura that I've seen before include "Distinctive atmosphere surrounding person or thing" , "Emanation - distinctive air" , "distinctive impression" , "Distinctive quality around a person or place" , "Atmosphere [ital]" .)