Fresco Painting is a method of mural painting in water colours on fresh or wet grounds of lime or gypsum. Mineral or earthy pigments are employed, which resist the chemical action of lime. In drying, the colours are incorporated with the plaster, and are thereby rendered as permanent as itself.
In producing fresco paintings, a finished drawing on paper, called a cartoon, exactly the size of the intended picture, is first made, to serve as a model. The artist then has a limited portion of the wall covered over with a fine sort of plaster, and upon this he traces from his cartoon the part of the design suited fur the space. As it is necessary to the success and permanency of his work that the colours should be applied while the plaster is yet damp, no more of the surface is plastered at one time than what the artist can finish in one day. A portion of the picture once commenced, needs to be completely finished before leaving it, as fresco does not admit of retouching after the plaster has become dry. On completing a day's work, any unpainted part of the plaster is removed, cutting it neatly along the outline of a figure or other definite form, so that the joining of the plaster for the next day's work may be concealed.
The art is very ancient, remains of it being found in India, Egypt, Mexico, etc. Examples of Roman frescoes are found in Pompeii and other places. After the beginning of the 15th century fresco painting became the favourite process of the greatest Italian masters, and many of their noblest pictorial efforts are frescoes on the walls of palaces and churches. Some ancient wall-paintings are executed in what is called Fresco Secco, which is distinguished from true fresco by being executed on dry plaster, which is moistened with lime-water before the colours are applied. Fresco painting was revived during the 19th century, and works of this kind were executed in the British Houses of Parliament and other public and private buildings, more especially in Germany. Research Fresco
Wall-paper was introduced into Europe around 1555 from China and Japan by the Dutch and Spanish and slowly replaced tapestry, stamped leather and other mural hangings as the predominant wall covering coming into general use around 1830. Research Wall-paper
Benozzo Gozzoli was an Italian painter. He was born in 1424 at Florence and died some time after 1496. He was a pupil of Fra Angelico, and worked at Florence, Rome, Orvieto, and Pisa. His name is specially identified with the great series of mural paintings in the Campo Santo, at Pisa, consisting of twenty-four subjects from the Old Testament, from the Invention of Wine by Noah to the Visit oi the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. Research Benozzo Gozzoli
Peter Von Cornelius was a German painter. He was born in 1783 at Dusseldorf and died in 1867. He painted the important frescoes of the Ludwigskirche. He is renowned for reviving the art of mural decoration. He early exhibited a taste for art, and studied the great masters, especially Raphael. In 1811 he went to Rome, where, in conjunction with Overbeck, Veit, and other associates, he may be said to have founded a new school of German art, and revived fresco-painting in imitation of Michael Angelo and Raphael. He left Rome in 1819 for Dusseldorf, where he had been appointed director of the academy, but he soon settled in Munich to give his whole attention to the painting of the Glyptothek and the Ludwigskirche there. In these two great works he was assisted by his Munich pupils. In 1833 he made another visit to Rome, and in 1839 he visited Paris. In 1841 he was invited to Berlin by Frederick William IV, who intrusted him with the painting of the royal mausoleum or Campo Santo.
The most celebrated cartoon in this series is the Four Riders of the Apocalypse. The series consists of twelve paintings, which have been engraved. Peter von Cornelius, a true representative of modern German thought, introduced into art a metaphysical and subjective element which is easily liable to be abused; and in his work grandeur of conception and elevation of tone have to make up for the want of the finest natural effects. Research Peter Von Cornelius
The quadrant was probably the earliest astronomical instrument to be used at sea. It consists of a flat plate in the shape of a quarter-circle, with a plumb-line suspended from the apex. The hand- held quadrant is held in a vertical plane with the right angle away from the eye and the curved edge downwards. One of the straight edges is equipped with a pair of metal pinhole sights which are aligned with an astronomical object and the hanging cord reads off the altitude of this object above the horizon on the circular scale. It was used in the 15th century to measure the altitude of a celestial body, usually the pole star. The English quadrant or back-staff, first described in 1595, was a more complex instrument that measured the altitude of the Sun by the shadow the
quadrant cast. The back-staff was more accurate than previous instruments, and had the advantage that the observer had his back to the Sun. It generally superseded the old
quadrant, the astrolabe, and the cross-staff in the 17th century. A larger form of quadrant, known as a mural quadrant, is mounted on a north-south wall and has a solid arm instead of a hanging cord. This obsolete instrument was superseded by the meridian, or transit, circle, a telescope free to move only in the meridian or north-south plane. Research Quadrant
In architecture, arabesque describes an Arabic style of ornamentation (hence the name meaning Arab-like) in which are represented men, animals (mythical and actual), plants, with leaves, flowers and fruit; mathematical figures &c. the whole put together in a whimsical way, so that, for instance, the animals not merely rest upon the plants, but grow out of them like blossoms. There are three types of arabesque. The oldest is that of the Romans which does not include animals. These occur in the mural paintings of Pompeii, Herculaneum and other places. The second form is that of the Arabs which is also without animals. The third form is that of the Christians in which animals were first introduced into the designs, and these appear in illuminated mediaeval manuscripts and other places. Research Arabesque
The trigon was an ancient triangularharp. Probably of Assyrian origin, it was adopted by the Egyptians who frequently represented it in their mural paintings. The wooden frame often had only two sides, the third being formed by the longest string. The instrument was placed under the arm or on the shoulder when played. Trigons were in use as late as the days of Pompeii. Research Trigon
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Abbreviations
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