What Is Fresco Art? Exploring the Ancient Technique of Painting on Plaster

Fresco Definition Fresco Painting Fresco History of Frescoes

Detail of the Sistine Chapel ceiling (Photo viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Thefrescois celebrated as one of the most significant mural-making techniques in the history of art. Though most commonly associated with the art of theItalian Renaissance, the painting technique has been around for millennia, inspiring ancient and contemporary artists alike.

Created by painting directly onto plaster, frescoes offer a permanence not found in other forms of art. Unsurprisingly, muralists favor this durability, as illustrated by well-preserved masterpieces including the Roman frescos ofPompeiiandfamous Renaissance paintingslike Michelangelo's world-famousSistine Chapel ceiling.

What is a Fresco?

Afrescopaintingis a work of wall or ceiling art created by applying pigment ontointonaco, or a thin layer of plaster. Its title translates to “fresh” in Italian, as a true fresco'sintonacois wet when the paint is applied.

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(Photo:Lori GreigviaFlickr,CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Types of Fresco

There are three common types of fresco:buon,secco, andmezzo.

  • To paint abuon(“真正的”)壁画,艺术家颜料直接到freshly mixed plaster. Due to the natural tack of the wetintonaco, the pigment used to paint abuonfresco does not need to contain a binding medium; instead, it can simply be mixed with water.
  • Contrarily, asecco(“干”)壁画采用干石膏作为画布。To make the paint stick to the plaster, the pigments must be mixed with a binding medium, such as a glue adhesive or egg yolk.
  • Amezzo(“medium”) fresco is painted onto nearly dryintonaco. During the Renaissance, this type of fresco became widely used, eventually surpassingbuonfresco in popularity.

Famous Frescoes

Though widely considered an Italian art form, frescoes have been found all over the world. Here, we take a look at some of the most famous of these paintings on plaster.

BullLeaping Fresco

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“Bull-leaping Fresco” (ca. 1600–1450 BCE) (Photo:Ministry of Culture and SportsviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Created around 1400 BCE for a wall in the Palace of Knossos in Crete, theBull-Leaping Frescois one of the most famous works of Minoan art. The ancient mural is celebrated for its vivid colors and subject matter, which shows stylized figures taking part in a bull-leaping ritual: a unique ceremony in which individuals would perform acrobatic tricks over the backs of cows and bulls.

Sigiriya Frescoes

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Sigiriya Rock Frescoes (5th century BCE) (Photo: Rudolph.A.furtado viaWikimedia Commons,CC0 1.0)

Once the site of an ancient palace,Sigiriya Rockin Sri Lanka is renowned for its small surviving collection of colorful, mythology-inspired frescoes. These exquisite works were created by King Kasyapa in the 5th century BCE and were intended to transform the earthly site into his very own ethereal kingdom.

Sappho Fresco

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“Woman with Wax Tablets and Stylus,” also known as the “Sappho Fresco” (ca. 55-79)(Photo viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Woman with Wax Tablets and Stylus—better known as theSappho Fresco—is one of many works of well-preserved wall art discovered by archaeologists in ancient Pompeii. Thisbuonfresco was found on the wall of a home and features a portrait of a young, wealthy woman holding writing implements as she contemplatively poses.

The Holy Trinity

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Masaccio, “Holy Trinity,” c. 1426–28. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Painted in the Dominican Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, theHoly Trinityfresco is the earliest surviving painting to usesystematic linear perspective. According to records,Masaccioplaced a nail at the vanishing point and attached strings to determine how the lines converged.

The Annunciation

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“The Annunciation” by Fra Angelico (ca. 1442-1443) (Photo:Web Gallery of ArtviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)

The Annunciationby Italian painterFra Angelicosignifies the shift from theMiddle Agesto theItalian Renaissance. Unlike medieval pieces featuring similar subject matter, this fresco conveys a more realistic composition, as Angelico expertly suggests depth through the use of a vanishing point.

This fresco is located in the Convent of San Marco in Florence, Italy. While it is not the first time Angelico explored this iconography (he also completed three visually similar panel paintings and anotherAnnunciationfresco), it has become one of the most well-known frescoes of the early Renaissance.

The Last Supper

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“The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci (1495- 1498) (Photo:HaltadefinizioneviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)

In the 1490s, Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned by the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan to createThe Last Supper, alarge-scalewall painting depicting Jesus' last meal. Painted on dry plaster, this piece is aseccofresco—though the artist also incorporated a white lead undercoat to lighten the tones.

Along with works like theMona Lisaand theVitruvian Man,TheLast Supperremains one of the artist's most famous works of art.

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling

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The Sistine Chapel Ceiling by Michelangelo (1508-1512) (Photo:Jean-Christophe BenoistviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)

From 1508 until 1512, Florentine artistMichelangelopainted a complex and colorful fresco on theceiling of the Sistine Chapelin the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. This massivebuonfresco features 9 central scenes from scripture and 343 figures.

Many of these characters are surrounded bygiornata,subtle “outlines” made by scraping off sections of the wetintonaco. Intended to suggest depth, thesegiornataare present throughout the entire plaster painting.

The School of Athens

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“The School of Athens” by Raphael (1511) (Photo:Vatican MuseumviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Like Michelangelo, High Renaissance painterRaphaelwas also commissioned to create monumental frescoes for the Vatican. In 1511, he painted a set of four murals inspired by the main schools of thought: theology, law, poetry, and philosophy.

The School of Athens, the most well-known fresco in this series, features portraits of the world's most celebrated philosophers. In addition to great Greek thinkers like Plato, Socrates, Euclid, and Aristotle, this colorful mural also incorporates a sneaky self-portrait of the artist himself.

The Last Judgment

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Michelangelo, “The Last Judgment,” 1536–41 (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Several decades after Michelangelo completed the Sistine Chapel ceiling, he returned to the same building to add another fresco, this time covering the entire alter wall.The Last Judgmentcaptures the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and God's final judgment of humanity.

While this subject was not uncommon during the Renaissance, Michelangelo's interpretation stands apart for its300 mostly nude figuresand its conflation with some mythological elements—both of which made the frescocontroversialamong Michelangelo's contemporaries.

Detroit Industry Murals

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“Detroit Industry Murals” by Diego Rivera (1933) (Photo:ashleystreetviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)

While fresco painting fell out of fashion following the Renaissance, the practice was rejuvenated by the Mexican Mural Movement in the 1920s. With frescoes at the forefront, this renewed interest in mural art was pioneered by Mexican painterDiego Rivera, who paintedDetroit Industry—a 27-piece series inspired by the Ford Motor Company—between 1932 and 1933.

Characterized by “masses, machines, and naked mechanical power,” Rivera's murals helped bring fresco painting into the modern world.

This article has been edited and updated.

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Kelly Richman-Abdou

凯利Richman-Abdou特约作者是我Modern Met. An art historian living in Paris, Kelly was born and raised in San Francisco and holds a BA in Art History from the University of San Francisco and an MA in Art and Museum Studies from Georgetown University. When she’s not writing, you can find Kelly wandering around Paris, whether she’s leading a tour (as a guide, she has been interviewed by BBC World News America andFrance 24) or simply taking a stroll with her husband and two tiny daughters.
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