As a way of adding extra depth to his figures the artist scraped away some of the wet plaster around their bodies to create lighter, visible ‘outlines’, making them stand out from the background behind them. Michelangelo’s hugely ambitious Sistine Chapel Ceiling, 1508-12, featured over 300 figures from religious scripture and took over four years to complete. Other artists explored the ways fresco painting could add depth and space to their surroundings, such as Fra Angelico’s deeply contemplative scenes at the Dominican Friary of San Marco, 1428, which explored the ways new discoveries in linear perspective could create realistic architectural space with depth, light and shadow.ĭuring the High Renaissance Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci made some of the most famous frescoes in the world. Gold leaf was popular, particularly during the Early Renaissance, lavishly adorning walls with a luxurious metallic sheen, as exemplified in Giotto di Bondone’s Scrovegni Chapel, 1305. Frescoes from the time illustrated scenes from the Bible or the lives of saints onto walls in public or private buildings and Christian churches. Fresco Painting in the Italian Renaissanceĭuring the Italian Renaissance fresco painting came into its own and reached a peak, with many of the finest examples from the period still in excellent condition today. Eastern Orthodox Christian Art in the following centuries often relied on fresco painting to adorn churches and cathedrals, depicting Biblical figures. In 100 BC frescoes appeared in China during the Han Dynasty, while others have been uncovered on the walls of Hindu temples in India from around 500 AD during the Guptan period, illustrating scenes from Hindu stories. Ancient Etruscans and Romans also made frescos, most commonly on the walls of wealthy patron’s tombs, depicting them eating, drinking and enjoying the afterlife.Īncient Roman examples of fresco paintings depicted false marble walls, columns and balconies, lavishly decorating the homes of those who could not afford such luxuries in real life. Some of the earliest examples of fresco painting have been traced back to 2000 BC, made by Minoans in Crete, Israel and Egypt to adorn palace walls and tombs, while others date from Bronze Age Greece in 1600 BC. Mezzo fresco, by contrast, is made on a nearly dry intonaco and was particularly popular during the Italian Renaissance. The fresco secco, or dry, technique demands a binding medium, such as glue adhesive or egg yolk to make paint stick to the surface and produces less vibrant colours. Only enough wet plaster, known as intonaco, is applied for a day’s work, with any further retouching added later in fresco secco once the surface is dry. Artists first sketch out a composition in charcoal and sinopia onto the wet plaster, before applying pigments suspended in water, which unite with the plaster as they dry, resulting in vivid, glowing colours. The first is the most prominent and popular technique, where mineral or earth pigments are applied to a layer of wet lime or gypsum plaster, known as an arricciato, which absorbs the pigment fully as it dries. Three types of fresco painting have emerged throughout the history of art – buon affresco (true fresco), mezzo fresco (medium fresco) and fresco secco (dry fresco).
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