Fresco technique

Fresco is a technique of monumental painting done with water-based paints on wet, fresh plaster. The primer and the fixing (binder) are one (lime), so the colours do not crumble.

The fresco technique has been known since ancient times. However, the surface of an ancient fresco was polished with hot wax (a mixture of frescoes and painting with wax paints – encaustic). The main difficulty of fresco painting is that the artist has to start and finish the work on the same day, before the raw lime dries. If corrections are necessary, it is necessary to cut out the relevant part of the lime layer and apply a new one. The fresco technique requires a steady hand, quick work and a completely clear view of the whole composition in every part.

The fresco technique is used in most ancient monuments of monumental painting: mural paintings in Pompeii, Christian catacombs, Romanesque, Byzantine and ancient Russian art. As far back as antiquity, windows and walls were of decisive importance in interiors. The inhabitants of ancient villas generously covered them with mosaics or paintings. The so-called Pompeian style of fresco painting is well known. Medieval interiors retain the same tendency - the luxury of wall and floor decoration. Traditions were handed down through the centuries and during the Renaissance period it became very fashionable to decorate interiors with frescoes. The quality of beauty, wealth and opulence was becoming important for the apartments of the new era. One need only think of the famous Camero degli Sposi bedroom in the palace of the Duke Louis Gonzaga of Mantua. The main decoration of this room is a fresco cycle by the great early Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna, dedicated to scenes of the life of the master of the palace, the ruler of Mantua.

The frescoed wall decoration took on a very special significance in the interiors of Renaissance palazzos. The splendor of the rooms was achieved not by the lavish furnishings, but by the decoration of the walls, ceiling and floor. Fresco paintings in contemporary interiors, whether private or public, as a decorative mural or an expensive painting on the wall, are again very relevant, popular and prestigious. The secret of the amazing charm of ancient frescoes is impossible to unravel. But you can allow yourself the joy of owning and contemplating the great art of the past, far and near.

Fresco painting in the art of mural painting was used in different eras in Egypt, Greece, Italy and Byzantium. It reached its greatest development and perfection in Italy during the Renaissance. In Russia the samples of Old Russian fresco painting belong to XI-XVII centuries. Two monuments of fresco painting – the murals of the Svetogorsk Monastery near Pskov and the Ferapontov Monastery near Kirillov, made by outstanding Russian masters, are examples of the classical period of Old Russian frescoes.

In the late XIX and early XX centuries, Russian artists F. A. Bruni, K. P. Brullov, Ilya Repin, V. I. Surikov, V. M. Vasnetsov, M. V. Nesterov, M. A. Vrubel and others performed the technique of fresco painting on religious themes in cathedrals and churches of Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and other cities.