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Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages: Fresco
Two Angels [North Italian] Domenico Ghirlandaio (Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi): Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ


The technique of painting, known from antiquity and especially popular in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, was used to decorate the walls and ceilings of churches, public buildings, and private dwellings.

The bare wall was first dampened and coated with a layer of coarse lime plaster, called arriccio, on which the design was drawn or brushed in red earth pigment (sinopia). The overall composition was painted in sections known as giornate—Italian for a day's work. Each of these sections was composed of a smooth plaster layer called intonaco. Pigments diluted in water were applied directly to the wet plaster to ensure the permanence of the painting. Embellishments applied to a dry wall—fresco a secco (secco is the Italian word for dry)—do not have the same durability, as the paint tends to flake off over time. Because fresco is vulnerable to moisture and may be damaged in a cool, damp environment, the arid Mediterranean climate is favorable for its preservation.


Europe, period, Medieval Europe, Europe, geography, Italian Peninsula, Southern Italy (and Rome), Painting, Fresco, Religious Art, Christianity, Religious Art, Christianity, Painting, Ghirlandaio, Domenico (Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi) (Italian, Florentine, 1449-1494), Giotto di Bondone (Italian, Florentine, 1266/76-1337), Martini, Simone (Italian, Sienese, active by 1315, died 1344), Bartolo di Fredi (Italian, Sienese, died 1410), Master of the Codex of Saint George (Italian, Florentine, active second quarter of 14th century), Berlinghiero (Italian, Lucca, active by 1228, died by 1236), Baroque and Rococo

Department of European Paintings

Dutch and Flemish Artists in Rome, Fontainebleau, Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), The Papacy and the Vatican Palace, Renaissance Drawings: Material and Function , Venice in the Eighteenth Century, Frescoes and Wall Painting in Late Byzantine Art, Boscoreale: Frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor, The Augustan Villa at Boscotrecase, Italian Panel Painting of the Later Middle Ages, Filippino Lippi (1456/57-1504), Sienese Painting, Roman Painting, Abridged List of Rulers: Europe, Fra Angelico (1395/1400–1455),

Florence and Central Italy, 1400-1600 A.D., Italian Peninsula, 1000-1400 A.D., Rome and Southern Italy, 1400-1600 A.D.,

Europe, 1000-1400 A.D.