Fresco (fresh in Italiano) - wall painting technique
involving painting on wet plaster. Other names are al
buon fresco and fresco.
Commonly (incorrectly) the term fresco refers to all
the murals made using different techniques. Correctly
name of the fresco, however, applies only to those
that have been done on wet plaster.
The fresco is one of the most difficult techniques of
painting, as during its application it is virtually
impossible to make any changes. It is, however, the
most durable type of wall painting.
Fresco of Sappho from Pompeii
Execution
The frescoes are painted on wet plaster made as a
multilayer with layers made of mortars of different
composition. The first layer, called arriciato lies directly
on the wall, it is thick. It contains slaked lime, coarse
sand and pieces of bricks or stones. The second layer
is intonaco. This is a layer smooth for painting. It
contains slaked lime, fine sand or dust strained
marble. On this layer you can begin painting a
fresco.
The fresco is painted with special paint brushes.
Paints contain dyes resistant to alkaline effect of
calcium. The dye is distributed by rainwater. Fresco is
durable because it is bonded to the substrate, in this
way you achieve persistent, intense colors.
History
The origins date back to ancient times. The most known
frescoes are Minoan frescoes, in which religious
subjects, animal and vegetable motifs and cryptic
tauromachie - a fight scene or play with bulls, dominate.
Knossos,
"The Parisians"
In the fourteenth and fifteenth century true frescoes,
like buon fresco (performed on fresh and still wet
plaster) were painted quite rare. The only examples of
this technique at this time was Giotto's frescoes in the
chapel in Padua Scrovenich and the frescoes in the
chapel Masaccia Branccacich in Florence
Unique frescoes in the Basilica of Sandomierz
More popular was a semi-fresco, or al fresco - after
drying the changes were made using organic dyes.There
is a huge development since Giotto's fresco. But it is
mostly widespread in the Renaissance. After the baroque
fresco technique is virtually abandoned. From the
seventeenth to the nineteenth century, al fresco is mixed
with the al secco.
Christ and the apostles Peter, John, Philip, Thomas, Jude Thaddeus,
a painting from the twelfth century
Crete and Egypt
The earliest known examples frescoes done in the Buon Fresco
method date at around 1500 BC and can be found on the island of
Crete in Greece. The most famous of these, The Toreador, depicts a
sacred ceremony in which individuals jump over the backs of large
bulls. While some similar frescoes have been found in other
locations around the Mediterranean basin, particularly in Egypt and
Morocco, their origins are unknown.
"The Toreador Fresco„
c. 1500 BCE.
The most common forms of fresco in Egypt were wall
paintings in tombs, usually using the a secco
technique.
Osiris and Horus from the tomb
in the Valley of the Kings
Classical antiquity
Frescoes were also painted in ancient Greece, but few of
these works have survived. In southern Italy, at Paestum,
which was a Greek colony, a tomb containing frescoes
dating back to 470 BC, so called Tomb of the Diver was
discovered in June 1968. These frescoes depict scenes
of the life and society of ancient Greece, and constitute
valuable historical testimonials. One shows a group of
men reclining at a symposium while another shows a
young man diving into the sea.
„Paestum diver”
Indian fresco
A lot of frescoes can be found in more than 20
locations of India.
The frescoes on the ceilings and walls of the Ajanta
Caves were painted between c. 200 BC and 600 and
are the oldest known frescoes in India. They depict
the Jataka tales that are stories of the Buddha's life in
former existences as Bodhisattva.
„Jataka Tales”
Other locations with valuable preserved ancient
and early medieval frescoes include Bagh Caves,
Ellora Caves, Sittanavasal, Armamalai Cave,
Badami Cave Temples and other locations.
Frescoes have been made in several techniques
including tempera technique.
Middle Ages
The late Medieval period and the Renaissance saw the most
prominent use of fresco, particularly in Italy, where most churches
and many government buildings still feature fresco decoration. In
Denmark too, church wall paintings or kalkmalerier were widely
used in the Middle Ages (first Romanesque then Gothic) and can
be seen in some 600 Danish churches as well as in churches in
the south of Sweden which was Danish at the time.
King Waldemar IV and Queen
Jadwiga,
a Danish medieval church mural.
Peter Næstved
One of the rare examples of Islamic fresco painting
can be seen in Qasr Amra, the desert palace of the
Umayyads in the 8th century.
Qasr Amra mural,
Pergamon Museum, Berlin
Early modern Europe
Northern Romania there are about a dozen painted monasteries,
completely covered with frescos inside and out, that date from the
second quarter of the sixteenth century. The most remarkable are
the monastic foundations at Humor (hoo mor), Moldoviţa (mol do
vee' tsa), Arbore (are' bo ray) and Voroneţ (vo ro nets). Suceviţa
(sue che vee' tsa), dating from 1600, represents a late return to the
style developed some seventy years earlier. The tradition of painted
churches continued into the nineteenth century in other parts of
Romania, although never to the same extent.
Voronet - painted church- the Last
Judgement .
The Foujita chapel in Reims completed in 1966, is
an example of modern frescos, the interior being
painted with religious scenes by the School of Paris
painter Tsuguharu Foujita. In 1996, it was
designated an historic monument by the French
Government.
Fresco Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Rome, Italy.
Mexican Muralism
Jose Clemente Orozco, David Siqueiros and Diego Rivera the famous
Mexican artists renewed the art of fresco painting in the 20th century.
Orozco, Siqueiros, Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo contributed more
to the history of Mexican fine arts and to the reputation of Mexican art
in general than anybody else. Together with works by Orozco,
Siqueiros, and others, Rivera's large wall works in fresco established
the art movement known as Mexican Muralism.
Totonaca Civilization;
Great Pyramid Of Tajin 1950 Diego
Rivera (1886-1957 Mexican)
Selected examples of frescoes
Fresco by Dionisius representing
Saint Nicholas in a Ferapontov
Monastery.
Dante Domenico di Michelino's
Divine Comedy in Duomo of
Florence.
The presentation made :
Anna Giesa
Anna Grondys
1F class