Buon Fresco

          The word fresco is from the Greek word affresca, derived from the Latin word for "fresh".  Frescoes were frist developed in ancient Greece but retained its popularity through the Renaissance.  There are three types of fresco painting.  The buon fresco technique is the first one I'll explain.  This first technique involves painting on fresh, or wet, plaster.  In ancient times, pigment would be mixed with water and then applied to the fresh plaster.  There was no need for any type of binding agent due to the chemical reaction that happens as plaster dries.  Once the plaster finished drying, the pigment would essentially be part of the plaster, creating a smooth surface.  The only real downside buon fresco is that some pigments, mostly blues, did not work well with the wet plaster.  Other than that, this technique is the most durable of the fresco painting techniques.
The earliest known buon fresco paintings are dated around 1500 BC in Greece on the island of Crete.

          This is the most well-known of these ancient frescoes.  Titled The Toreador (below), this fresco shows a sacred ceremony that involves jumping over large bulls.

The Roman wall paintings left in the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneim were also painted in the buon fresco style.

This is inside of the Villa dei Misteri in Pompeii (above).

The Renaissance saw the most prominent use of fresco.  In Italy, most churches and many government buildings still feature fresco decoration.

          Clearly, the most well-known group of fresco paintings are at the Sistine Chapel, especially the ceiling,  by Michaelangelo and the Last Supper, by  Cosimo Rosselli located on the Northern wall.

The Last Supper, Cosimo Rosselli

the Creation of Adam

the Creation of Eve

If you look at the Creation of Eve (Michaelangelo), you can see very clearly the incredible amount of dimensionality that Michaelangelo acheived.  It is amazing how deceiving the painting can be even in the terrible reproductions you can find on a google image search.

So...I decided to try this out for myself.  I watched close to 15 YouTube videos and read about 10 explanations of the buon fresco technique.

 I was still pretty intimidated so I chose a very simple subject and just went for it.  Technically, this isn't a true fresco, due to my lack of funds, I couldn't use pigments mixed with water.  I had to use what I could scrounge up in my studio, some acrylic paint.  This was just my first attempt.  I actually kind of enjoyed it and I'm planning on trying it again, maybe with a subject I'm interested in and a piece I've planned out a little bit better.

This is my super fantastic first attempt at fresco painting.  It's horrible, I admit but again, it was my first try.  I really did like making it, despite the unfortunate outcome of my piece.