My enthusiasm for fresco is growing everyday, as you might have noticed with these notes. Since I know you share an interest in art, I thought a description of the process was in order. Knowing what goes into creating a great work of art inevitably wins us all over, and persuades us to a greater appreciation of any artistic effort. After all, a little lime plaster, pigment, and water in skilled hands can bring us to our knees, persuade us to put our hands over our mouths, and think of things both in and out of the material world for just brief a minute in time. Isn’t that one thing all great art does? 

 Fresco requires a careful conception and execution. The artist must complete all drawings and preparatory cartoons prior to painting day. Since the artist is painting on to wet lime plaster, the drawing, paints and brushes must be mixed and ready at hand. 

Here are five initial steps the artist must take to begin a fresco.

 1. Conception and design: The artist needs to have a strong idea and composition for the finished painting long before the final layer of lime plaster, or intonaco, is laid. Usually the site and the funding are secured at this point as well. Remember the old story of the reluctant sculptor Michelangelo, commissioned for the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican? (This link is a general synopsis on Michelangelo, there are plenty of art historians out there with an even more thorough explanation of what happened.) All elements of the execution must be considered at this stage. If the fresco will be on a ceiling high above the viewer’s head, the artists must consider elements of potential distortion and any problems in the architectural design of the space. How will the finished work function in the space? How will the composition balanced? Will it create a sense of unity, repose, chaos? Will there be repetition and rhythm? What elements serve the artist’s larger aim? The artist then makes a compositional study. Here are images of the Sistine Chapel from the Vatican's online collections.

 2. Color study: After the artist has completed a rough compositional study with charcoal or graphite, he must consider the color palette of the painting. This is a key point for fresco painting. Certain pigments are more useful in fresco than in other mediums. Ultramarine with go fugitive if mixed with the lime white and must be handled with care. A small pastel color study allows the artists to conceive of the overall color effect he is looking for, and what pigment he may want to use to make a palette of premixed colors. 

 3. Charcoal, Graphite, and Conte Drawings: Once the artist has settled on his design and color palette, individual drawings of specific figures and portraits must be made. This is where rigorous draftsmanship is of utmost importance. Solid study of anatomy, proportion, form and balance are particularly necessary for success on painting day. Form is King in Fresco painting. The more familiar the artist is with the forms in space, and their emotive functions the more successful his painting will be. Here is Michaelangelo's study for the figure of Adam for the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 from the British Museum's Prints and Drawings room. I'll never forget copying it there on rainy London afternoon. What an immense pleasure!  Check out the actual dimensions of the drawing; it is not large.

4. The Cartoons: Spatial relationships are also particularly important for the artist to consider when working with fresco. Once the drawings of the figurative elements in the fresco have been completed, the artist creates a gridded transfer of these drawings to the scale of the final work. These large cartoons are the actual size of the fresco, and give the artist yet another chance to investigate problems of distortion, proportion and distance. If the fresco design is for a ceiling, will the scale of the composition be appropriate for the viewing distance on the floor? If it is on a wall, how will it be viewed from different parts of the architectural space?

5. Tracings: Once the cartoons are created, large rolls of tracing paper are brought in to create tracings of each individual cartoon. These tracings capture the most important boundaries of the form in each drawing in preparation for the final painting day. These drawings are then punched with tiny holes to create a constellation style map of the final work. See the original drawing here.

Next week I’ll write some more about this process, to assist us all as we keep on looking a frescoes and savoring the colors! If you aren't that interested in fresco stay tuned, because I'll write about other art forms soon enough...I can't help but be interested in so many of them!

Yours,

Rebecca

To see past notes visit www.rebeccanking.com and check out my blog.