Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
A fresco is essentially a painting created on a wall. They have been used from ancient Egypt and Rome up until modern day, and were popular during the renaissance before panels or wallpaper were used. The advantage of fresco painting was that large areas could be covered quickly and relatively cheaply. The alternative were mosaics, however they took a long time to create and they were stylised – frescoes could depict the world with more realism. This was useful in religious buildings, where stories could then be depicted for an illiterate population.
The above photograph shows the Scrovegni chapel where Giotto was commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni to create numerous frescoes depicting the biblical stories of Christ and Mary. Giotto was a hugely influential figure and was considered the father of the renaissance because he was the first artist that attempted to capture the human condition in his religious scenes. He painted gestures and facial expressions with more realism than had been done previously, and added dimension and weight to his forms.
As a banker, Scrovegni would have been concerned about his ethical integrity, upon which he believed his acceptance into the afterlife depended. Commissioning works of art for the church would have been his way of atoning for the sin of usury and securing a place in heaven. As such, the artwork is extremely lavish. The majority of the blue colour used in the ceiling vaults was lapiz lazuli (ultramarine)- a pigment more expensive than gold.
The word ‘fresco’ means fresh, owing to the way the painting was created on a fresh coat of wet plaster using pigments dissolved in lime water. This was important in preventing the flaking and loss of the painting due to moisture. Using this method however, the bleeding of the paint made it difficult to create fine detail, and so additional details needed to be added after the plaster had dried. There emerged two methods of fresco painting – ‘buon fresco’ created on damp plaster, and ‘fresco secco’ created on dry plaster.
Enrico Scrovegni offering his chapel to the Virgin Mary. The giornate can be seen.
The Last Judgement depicting the pathways to heaven and hell
First, the ‘arriccio’, the rough plaster, was applied to the wall. The apprentices would then transfer the artist’s drawing onto this. They would then apply the ‘intonaco’, the finer coat of plaster. Once it was dry enough to paint on, the artist would have four to six hours to paint the image before it dried. The chemical reaction of the paint in the plaster would continue until it was completely dry, making it difficult to keep the colours consistent. If any mistakes were made, the plaster needed to be chipped off before the process could be started again. The area an artist could paint in one sitting was called the ‘Giornata’, and if you look closely at a fresco, you can usually see the subtle outlines of the giornate.
There were also pigments that could not be dissolved in lime water. Ultramarine was one such pigment. It needed to be painted onto dry plaster which contributed to its reduced longevity compared to other pigments. This can be observed in the scrovegni chapel where some areas of ultramarine have peeled off over time. In The Arrest of Christ below, the guards metal helmets and weapons would have been silver when it was originally painted.
The Arrest of Christ (Kiss of Judas). The faces and gestures are more expressive than the previous byzantine influenced style.