What Techniques Were Used for Roman Wall Paintings?
Roman wall paintings were not simply paintings that covered a wall's surface, but rather paintings that had become part of the wall. The few instances of lush, vivid wall frescoes remaining from ancient Rome are primarily found in areas that were protected by lava from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius or in underground tombs and catacombs. It is through these rare pieces that art historians have been able to identify the techniques used by artists of the period to create wall paintings.
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Features
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The wall-painting methods used by ancient Romans are relatively the same as those used today. The wall was prepared with a thick lime plaster that contained sand, or in some cases, animal hair or straw. A second thick layer of lime plaster was then applied. This plaster was often mixed with powdered marble, depending on whether or not the person who commissioned the wall painting could afford the added expense. While the plaster was still damp and fresh, colored pigments were applied with a brush.
Fresco Defined
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Roman wall paintings are also known as frescoes, an Italian word meaning "fresh," due to the fact that the paintings were done on fresh plaster. The frescoes of ancient Roman were termed "buon fresco," or true frescoes, because the colored pigments were mixed with water only.
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Insight
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Artists working on the wall paintings only plastered the amount of wall area they could easily cover in pigment during that session. If the plaster dried before they had completed that day's wall section, then the dried portion was removed, and fresh layers of plaster were applied for the next session.
Interesting Trivia
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Wall paintings in Pompeii were painted using an especially vivid shade of red. The red paint was achieved by grinding cinnabar pigment into fine grains, and purifying it to the highest level allowed by the technology of the time. The finer the grains of pigment, the more vivid the end result.
Effects
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Adding marble helped to create an extremely smooth surface on which the painter could work. The goal was to polish the wall's surface and make it as smooth as possible. Sometimes, ancient Roman homeowners who had to watch their budgets had the finely crushed marble added to the lime plaster to give the finished surface a marble look.
Postscript
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After the wall had dried, tempera and liquid wax were sometimes used to finish the painting.
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