Slide 1
Fresco pigment meets fresh lime plaster
In true fresco, pigments are applied to fresh lime plaster. The wall becomes part of the painting's material structure.
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Painters also used a secco, the method of painting on dry plaster. A mural can combine both methods, so calling it a fresco does not show how every detail was applied.
Slide 2
A giornata is the section painted while its plaster stays suitable
A painter spreads only as much finishing plaster as can be painted while it remains suitable. Each day's section is called a giornata.
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The joins between these sections can survive in the surface. They give researchers evidence about the order and pace of work that the finished scene may conceal.
Slide 3
Drawings help plan the image before the final surface
Fresco painting relies on preparation before the final surface is ready. Drawings help place figures within a large wall composition.
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The wall is built up through plaster layers. An underlying layer called the arriccio can carry preparatory work, while the final painting surface is the intonaco.
Slide 4
Plaster joins suggest three painting days for this scene
In Domenichino's The Judgement of Midas, horizontal plaster joins suggest that the surviving scene was painted in three days.
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The attribution includes assistants as well as Domenichino. Evidence for a work schedule therefore does not prove that a single person painted every part of the scene.
Slide 5
A museum fragment may once have belonged to a larger room
A fresco displayed in a museum may once have belonged to a larger room. Its present boundaries can differ from its original setting.
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Wall paintings have been detached for centuries. Removing and relocating one changes the architectural relationships through which its figures and subject were first encountered.
Sources
- Fresco glossary
National Gallery
- The Judgement of Midas
National Gallery