Fresco

Fresco (pl. frescos or frescoes) is a technique of <a href="/facts/Mural/NKJCN7zK">mural</a> painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") <a href="/facts/Lime_plaster/HDsmqKa3">lime plaster</a>. <a href="/facts/Water/0lkXnJPK">Water</a> is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting becomes an integral part of the wall. The word fresco (<a href="/facts/Italian_language/YXsmvlQG">Italian</a>: affresco) is derived from the Italian adjective fresco meaning "fresh", and may thus be contrasted with <a href="/facts/Fresco-secco/wq1FsC5G">fresco-secco or secco</a> mural painting techniques, which are applied to dried plaster, to supplement painting in fresco. The fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with <a href="/facts/Italian_Renaissance_painting/mhcp9f58">Italian Renaissance painting</a>.
The word fresco is commonly and inaccurately used in English to refer to any wall painting regardless of the plaster technology or binding medium. This, in part, contributes to a misconception that the most geographically and temporally common wall painting technology was the painting into wet lime plaster. Even in apparently <a href="/facts/Buon_fresco/UWH5ygoF">buon fresco</a> technology, the use of supplementary organic materials was widespread, if underrecognized.

Fresco open-in-new

Fresco