Art- Frescos

An art medium quickly associated with the Renaissance is fresco art.  It certainly isn’t strictly a Renaissance method, and in fact is found in Italy from multiple time periods.  However, it is a huge part of the décor here in Florence, and I cannot help but to see it every day.  A fresco is a two-dimensional art form created by adding color pigment to wet, white plaster.  An example would be the famous Sistine Chapel in Rome.  Until my time in Italia, this was the extent of my knowledge concerning frescos; pigments mixed with wet plaster equals art.  But there are things I’ve learned in class- especially on class trips- that have really expanded my understanding of this art.

Firstly, there is an obvious setback to making frescos: you have to work quickly.  If not, the plaster will dry and you will have nothing to mix pigment in to.  So what do you do to counter this?  The artist mixes and plasters in sections the size of what he can work in a day.  These sections are called giornatas, and literally mean “a day’s work.”  Many pieces have slight variations in color within them, allowing you to see the specific giornata.

Before the artist can slap plaster on a wall and create a fresco, he must first prepare the wall.  This is the second thing I learned on a class trip to San Miniato al Monte, an ancient basilica just outside of Florence (I will go into this trip in more detail in another post).  Before the artist colored the fresco, he would first draw on the wall to map the project.  I know this should be obvious, but I really never thought about a fresco as a drawing colored in with plaster.  These drawings are rough, basic sketches called sinopias.  Sinopias are named thusly after the natural red earth pigment used to create them. There are many example of frescos left incomplete, containing only a sketch of the fresco-to-be.  Personally, I enjoyed the sinopias I saw and thought them to be just as- if not, more- aesthetically pleasing than the completed frescos.

(Written 26-05-2015)