Fresco: An art started by Minoan and other early civilizations. In antiquity they had the idea of painting fairly small portable frescoes. Some of these have been found in Crete and date from about 1000 BCE. Frescoes are painted with pigments which have been ground in water and which are then applied directly on to a freshly plastered wall, while still moist, this method is known as buon fresco. When it is painted on to dried-out plaster it is termed fresco secco. This preliminary drawing is done on the under plaster, known as the arriccio. It is usually brushed in with a mixture of reddish brown clay and water and is termed the sinopia. In some cases, if it is an elaborate design, a cartoon may be prepared and then transferred (see Roulette). It is then worked out as to how large an area the artist can paint in a day and a top layer of plaster, the intonaco, is applied. Into this the anist has to work directly and without mistakes. Fresco secco can be carried out with rempera, glue or casein colours. Before making a start, wall should be well soaked with lime-water. The Renaissance produced a host of the world's greatest fresco-painters. It started with Giotto with such as his Arena Chapel in Padua and went on with the likes of Masaccio, for instance his work in the Brancacci Chapel, Florence, as well as Raphael's 'The School of Athens' at the Vatican and reached its peak with the stupendous ceiling in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo.

 

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Fresco: An art started by Minoan and other early civilizations. In antiquity they had the idea of painting fairly small portable frescoes. Some of these have been found in Crete and date from about . . . View Full Definition

Walls: A painting made directly on a wall or a ceiling is termed a mural. The surface of the wall has to be carefully prepared so that the paints will have the maximum chance of adhering. For fresc . . . View Full Definition

Sinopia: A red-brown chalk employed for marking-out frescos.

Oil-Painting: This technique was not suddenly invented; the story that accredits its invention to the Van Eyck brothers is incorrect, although they did much to help the evolution of the new medium. Previo . . . View Full Definition