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Fresco Painting

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Fresenius Johann Phiipp

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a method of painting with mineral and earthy colors dissolved in water, upon freshly-plastered walls. As only so much can be painted in one day as can be executed while the plaster is wet, and as the colors become lighter on drying, fresco painting is very difficult of execution. As the wall dries, all the color that is applied is carried to the surface, and there forms a coating to the wall. But little retouching can be done. Fresco painting was carried to great perfection by the ancients. It was revived, by the Italian painters especially, during the Middle Ages. It again fell into disuse from the seventeenth till the present century, when it has been revived by Cornelius, Overbeck, and others. With the exception, perhaps, of mosaic painting (q.v.), fresco painting is better adapted than any other style to the production of monumental works of art. For full effectiveness, it requires the natural light, and hence cannot be used with success in churches or other buildings which are lighted with windows of stained glass. — Kugler and Schnaase, Gesch. der Malerei.