Monumental painting is always associated with architecture. It adorns the walls and ceilings of public buildings. In the past, they painted mainly temples, now - palaces of culture, stations, hotels, sanatoriums, stadiums. Such paintings must be made of durable materials so that they can exist together with buildings for centuries. The creators of the murals, depicting historical events or scenes from their contemporary life, strive to convey their idea of the world, the advanced ideas of their time. Monumental painting educates the artistic taste of the broad masses of viewers.
VI Lenin attached great importance to monumental painting. In 1918, in a conversation with People's Commissar of Education A. V. Lunacharsky, V. I. Lenin noted: “Campanella in his “Solar State” says that frescoes are painted on the walls of his socialist city, which serve as a visual lesson in natural science for young people. , stories, excite civic feeling, in a word, participate in the upbringing of new generations. It seems to me that this is far from naive and, with a certain change, could be assimilated and implemented by us right now ... ”(On Campanella, see vol. 8 DE, article“ Tommaso Campanella ”). Lenin called such art "monumental propaganda", thus emphasizing the power of the impact of monumental art on the broad masses of working people.
What are the tasks of a muralist?
Monumental painting is located on the walls, ceilings, vaults, often it goes from one wall to another. They examine the paintings while moving around the building, sometimes even from the street, through the large windows of modern buildings. In other words, monumental painting is perceived in motion from different points of view, and at the same time it should not lose its impact on the viewer.
A muralist can unfold a complex narrative in painting, can connect events that took place in different places and at different times. Thus, the great Italian artist Michelangelo depicted many biblical scenes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, combining them into a single complex composition (1508 - 1512; see illustration, p. 132).
Monumental painting appeared as long ago as human habitation. Already on the walls of the caves where primitive man took refuge, one can see hunting scenes made with amazing observation or simply images of individual animals (see the article “Primitive Art”).
Studying the history of ancient cultures, we meet monuments of monumental painting everywhere. They not only give us artistic pleasure, but also tell us about the life, life, work, wars of the peoples of Ancient Egypt, India, China, Mexico and other countries.
The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD covered the wealthy city of the Roman Empire, Pompeii, with ashes. This has kept many murals in untouchable freshness for us. Some of them, removed from the walls, now adorn the museum in Naples.
The second heyday of monumental painting in Italy is associated with the Renaissance (XIV - XVI centuries). Frescoes by Giotto, Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna, Michelangelo, Raphael and for artists of our time serve as examples of artistic skill (see Art of the Italian Renaissance).
The artistic culture of Ancient Rus' also found its expression in the monuments of monumental painting. Monumental painting came to Rus' from Byzantium after the adoption of Christianity, but quickly acquired national Russian features. Despite the fact that the subjects of the paintings were of a religious nature, Russian artists portrayed the people they saw around them. Their saints are simple Russian men and simple Russian women, they are the entire Russian people in their noblest features. The main centers of monumental painting in Rus' were Kyiv, Novgorod, Pskov, Vladimir, Moscow, and later Yaroslavl (see the article "Old Russian Art"). But even outside these large ancient cities, in quiet remote monasteries, interesting paintings were also created.
In the distant Ferapontov Monastery, sheltered on the lakes of the former Vologda province, the great Russian artist Dionysius created murals that delight us with their musical forms, tenderness, and wonderful selection of colors. Paints for paintings Dionysius prepared from multi-colored stones, which strewn the shore of the lake near the monastery.
Andrei Rublev, Dionysius, Feofan Grek owe Russian monumental painting its highest achievements. But, besides these great masters, dozens and hundreds of artists, whose names remained unknown, created many paintings in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia.
In our time, due to the huge scale of construction, new opportunities have arisen for the development of monumental painting. Soviet artists V. Favorsky, A. Deineka, E. Lansere, P. Korin and others gave a lot of creative energy to this art.
Murals differ depending on the technique of execution: fresco, tempera painting, mosaic, stained glass.
The word fresco is often misused to refer to any wall painting. This word comes from the Italian “al fresco”, which means “fresh”, “raw”. And indeed, the fresco is written on raw lime plaster. Paints - a dry pigment, i.e. a dye in powder - are diluted in clean water. When the plaster dries, the lime contained in it releases the thinnest calcium crust. This crust is transparent, it fixes the paints under it, makes the painting indelible and very durable. Such frescoes have come down to us through the centuries little changed.
Sometimes, an already dry fresco is painted with tempera - paints diluted on an egg or casein glue. Tempera is also an independent and very common type of wall painting.
Mosaic is called painting, laid out from small colored pieces of stone or smalt - opaque colored glass specially welded for mosaic work. Smalt tiles are pricked into cubes of the size desired by the artist, and from these cubes, according to a sketch and drawing made in full size (according to the so-called cardboard), an image is typed. Previously, the cubes were placed in wet lime plaster, but now they are placed in cement mixed with sand. The cement hardens, and cubes of stone or smalt are firmly fixed in it. The ancient Greeks and Romans already knew the mosaic. It was also distributed in Byzantine, the Balkan countries, Italy. The Italian city of Ravenna is especially famous for its mosaics (see Art of Byzantium).
The church of St. Sofia in Kyiv. They were created in the 11th century. together with Russian masters, Greek artists invited by Prince Yaroslav.
M.V. Lomonosov was a great mosaic enthusiast. He arranged mosaic workshops in St. Petersburg and set up the cooking of smalt.
In the Soviet Union, the ancient art of mosaics is experiencing a new flowering. Mosaics can be seen at the stations of the Moscow Metro, on the facade of the Moscow Palace of Pioneers, etc.
The stained-glass window consists of pieces of transparent colored glass, connected according to the pattern by lead soldering. Images made in this way are inserted into window openings. Colored glasses transmit light and glow themselves. Modern technology makes it possible to produce stained-glass windows in other ways.
Stained glass was especially common in the Middle Ages (see Art of the Middle Ages in Western and Central Europe). Stained glass windows can be seen in every Gothic cathedral.
All these methods of monumental painting have existed for a very long time, they are widely used in our time. On the basis of synthetic resins and other modern materials, a new technique of monumental painting is also being developed.
(derived from the Latin monumentum, that is, "monument".)
Painting related to monumental art is called monumental. This type is produced on architectural structures and other stationary structures and is in demand in a specific architectural environment. Monumental painting is characterized by large size, generalized forms. It includes works placed on walls, ceilings, vaults, sometimes on floors, types of painting on plaster (fresco, encaustic, oil or tempera painting), paintings on canvas, mosaics, majolica, stained-glass windows and other forms of relief-painting decor in architecture.
According to the content and nature of the figurative structure, paintings are divided into those with features of monumentality, which is the most important accent of the architectural ensemble, and monumental and decorative, which are paintings that adorn the surface of walls, facades, ceilings, which finds its place in architecture. Monumental painting also has the name "monumental-decorative", or in other words, "picturesque", which emphasizes the decorative nature of the paintings. Artworks monumental painting are implemented in a volume-spatial or planar-decorative solution, depending on their function. Monumental painting is considered as a single whole in conjunction with other components of the architectural ensemble.
Story.
The most ancient type of painting is cave paintings from the Paleolithic period (caves of Altamira, Lascaux). Monumental painting is embodied in the most ancient wall decoration - contour images of animals (Pyrenees, Spain; Dordogne caves, France). Presumably, the work of the Cro-Magnons, created between 25 and 16 thousand BC. History remembers the cave paintings of Altamira in Spain and more advanced examples of art from the late Paleolithic period in France (La Madeleine cave). Covering the times of early Antiquity and continuing until the late Renaissance, monumental painting develops in parallel with monumental sculpture and is the leading method of decorating buildings made of stone, concrete, and brick. Monumental painting was used in the architecture of the temple and burial structures of Ancient Egypt, in the buildings of the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization.
Wall paintings have been known since pre-dynastic Egypt. An example is the tombs of Hierakonpolis. The murals demonstrate the tendency of Egyptian masters to stylize the human appearance. From 3rd to 2nd c. BC. Egyptian painting appears with its characteristic features, expressed in unique wall paintings. In Mesopotamia, due to the low strength of the building materials used, very few wall paintings have survived. Images of figures are known that reflect the idea of naturalism, but ornaments are more characteristic of Mesopotamian art.
Monumental painting was widespread in ancient Rome, especially after the ancient Roman architectural revolution. Four styles of ancient Roman painting were used in the design of private dwellings. In the temple architecture of Byzantium, frescoes and mosaics were popular, which had a decisive influence on ancient Russian monumental art.
Fine works of ancient Roman monumental painting visible under a layer of ash on the walls of the buildings of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia, destroyed by Vesuvius in 79, and they are also in Rome. The painting is a polychrome composition depicting various subjects, architectural motifs, as well as mythological events. Fresco "Odysseus in the Land of the Laestrigons" was found on the Esquiline in Rome. Such compositions confirm the excellent knowledge of nature and the ability to reproduce it.
The art of the European Middle Ages attracts attention with the unheard-of development of stained glass technologies. The outstanding masters of the Renaissance created an impressive number of majestic and skillful frescoes. In this era, painters strove for the maximum identification of creativity with reality; first of all, they are attracted by the reproduction of form and space. Renaissance artists also experimented with painting techniques. The work of Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper" in the Milanese monastery of Santa Maria is made in oil on an unprepared surface. The composition has been deeply affected by time, but has remained almost unchanged under the layer of late restoration. In the 16-18 century. Italian monumental painting strives for pomposity, decorativeness and illusionism.
famous works monumental painting preserved from the pre-Columbian settlements of the American continent (Maya, including). The art of the Far Eastern civilizations gives first place monumental painting, moving in parallel with decorative painting (Japanese art). Throughout the 19th century wall paintings were used in Europe and the USA to decorate public buildings. Since the 20th century thanks to the work of Mexican artists in monumental painting lift resumed. D. Siqueiros, D. Rivera, J. Orozco were especially distinguished. The monumental painting of the present time is rapidly mastering new materials in mosaics and stained glass. Fresco, which requires painstaking and technical skill, is inferior to the technique of painting "a secco" (drawing on a dry plaster base), which has proven itself to be more resistant in the conditions of a modern city.
Introduction.
Monumental icon painting - painting on architectural structures and other stationary foundations.
Basic techniques:
Al Secco
Mosaic
Monumental painting is the oldest type of painting, known from the Paleolithic (paintings in the caves of Altamira, Lasko, etc.). Thanks to the stationarity and longevity of works of monumental painting, numerous samples of it have remained from almost all cultures that created developed architecture, and sometimes serve as the only type of surviving paintings of the era.
Starting from early Antiquity and until the late Renaissance, monumental painting, along with monumental sculpture, is one of the main methods of decorating stone, brick and concrete structures. It was widely used in the temple and burial complexes of Ancient Egypt, in the architecture of the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization. Ancient Greek monumental painting, which practically did not come down to us (with the exception of mosaics), including the painting of marble and chrysoelephantine (ivory with gold trim) sculpture, largely determined the nature of the perception of works of classical and Hellenistic plastic and architecture. In ancient Rome, especially after the ancient Roman architectural revolution, it was extremely widespread, including in the design of private dwellings (four styles of ancient Roman painting). Mosaics and frescoes, which were widely used in the temple architecture of Byzantium, had a decisive influence on the development of ancient Russian monumental art. In the art of the European Middle Ages, the unprecedented development of stained glass technology deserves special attention. The leading masters of the Renaissance created many grandiose in scope and virtuoso in execution of frescoes.
1. Fresco
Fresco is a technique of painting on fresh plaster. She loves large planes, monuments, sublime rhythm and, at the same time, a generalized, simplified language. The main difficulty of fresco painting is the need for quick work, a confident hand and a completely clear idea of the entire composition and each of its parts: you need to have time until the plaster dries, that is, on the same day. So the work is progressing. Hence the simplicity of the figurative language of the frescoes, and the generalization of its composition, and the clarity of the contours.
The fresco technique has been known since antiquity. But, as evidenced by Pompeian and Roman samples, ancient and late frescoes differed in some ways:
A). The Renaissance used only two layers of lime, antiquity - a lot.
B). The surface of the ancient fresco was shiny - it was covered with hot wax (the so-called encaustic).
At the end of the 14th century a mixed fresco technique appears, called "Buon fresco", that is, "good fresco". Worked in this technique Giotto and his school. The technique consists in the fact that at first the first layer of sand, lime and water was applied, after this layer dried, a square network was outlined on it and the main elements of the composition were thrown with charcoal. Having overcome the Byzantine icon-painting tradition, Giotto became the true founder of the Italian school of painting, developed a completely new approach to depicting space. There is chiaroscuro in his frescoes, this finally separates Giotto from the Byzantine tradition. Around 1400, the fresco technique was finally improved: instead of a square net, cardboard (a large, detailed life-size drawing) is now used, through which the contours of the image are pierced.
Examples.
1. "Fresco with bullfighter", Cretan-Mycenaean art, 1500. BC, Palace of Knossos, Crete.
The largest and most dynamic of the Minoan wall paintings discovered so far. But before us is not a bullfight, as the name says, but a ritual game, the participants of which vault on the back of an animal. Two of the slender athletes depicted in the fresco are girls: they, as in the Egyptian frescoes, are distinguished mainly by a lighter skin tone. Vaulting on the sacred animal, the bull, was a kind of ritual of that time, and most likely the fresco depicts the same person in three successive phases of the same action. The movements of the athletes, their smooth lightness and ease, obviously meant more to the artist than the actual accuracy of the image or the internal drama of what was happening. He idealizes the ritual, emphasizing its plastic, playful side.
2. Giotto. “Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate”, Chapel del Arena in Padua, 1304/06
The image is located in the upper right tier of the chapel, dedicated to the life of Joachim, father of the Virgin Mary. Giotto is bold in his images, they have the effect of instant photography, the momentary visual event. According to legend, the elderly spouses Anna and Joachim, after an angel separately announced to each that they would have a child, hurried to meet each other. Anna, accompanied by several women, goes to meet her husband returning from the field, and they meet in front of the Golden Gate of Jerusalem. Deeply moved, they warmly embrace each other. In the picture, the fusion of their figures is also emphasized by the unity of the high perverse tower in the background. The line of two merged profiles, as it were, continues, emphasizing, the vertical of the right corner of the tower directed upwards. Just as it is impossible to see the life of the city through the narrow loopholes in the bare walls of the towers, so it is impossible to guess from the faces of the main characters of the scene what is going on in the souls of the happy spouses. Their feelings are reflected rather on the faces of the women standing under the arch of the city gates, and on the curious face of the shepherd boy in the left corner of the picture.
The compositional unity of the scene is emphasized by internal tension, the suggestive power of glances and gestures. Elements of architecture - a wide arch of the gate and a perverse tower - divide the characters into separate groups, but at the same time unite them. The depth of the foreground is conveyed by a stone bridge thrown over the city moat. The plausibility of the space behind the gate is achieved by the three-dimensional design of the terrace on two pillars, which simultaneously emphasizes the three female figures under the arch.
3. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, 1502/18, Vatican.
*taken from Varyusha, because no one writes about it better than her ^_^*
In the work of Michelangelo, the collapse of the Renaissance style was indicated and the sprouts of a new artistic worldview were outlined. Michelangelo Buonarroti(1475-1564). His genius manifested itself in architecture, painting, poetry, but most clearly in sculpture. He perceived the world plastically, in all areas of art he is primarily a sculptor. The human body seems to him the most worthy subject of the image. But this is a man of a special, powerful, heroic breed. The art of Michelangelo is dedicated to the glorification of the human fighter, his heroic activity and suffering. His art is characterized by gigantomania, a titanic beginning. The most grandiose of his works was the painting of the vault Sistine Chapel (1508-1512). Michelangelo did a truly titanic work - for four years he alone painted an area of \u200b\u200babout 600 square meters. meters. The grandiose painting is dedicated to the scenes of sacred history, starting from the creation of the world. Michelangelo painted about 200 figures and figurative compositions on the ceiling. The painting has become an inexhaustible encyclopedia of various poses, angles for future generations of sculptors. Mighty giants painted by Michelangelo, old men, women, babies are three-dimensionally plastic like sculptural sculptures. Strong movement of the human body in strong turns. No finger or joint remains unbent or motionless. Any thought that the picture is a plane disappears. The figures move freely in space. Frescoes by Michelangelo break through the plane of the wall. This illusion of space and movement was a huge achievement of European art. Michelangelo's discovery that decoration can push forward or push back a wall and ceiling later makes use of the decorative art of the Baroque.
4. Al Secco
In the Middle Ages, the traditions of fresco are forgotten, but little by little a new technique begins to be developed. Until the 14th century the “al secco” technique, painting on dry plaster, was especially popular. But when using this technique, paints do not penetrate deep into the plaster, and therefore they hold much less.
Examples.
4. The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, Santa Maria delle Grazie, 1495/98
The fresco is located in the refectory of the monastery, depicting the scene of the last supper of Christ with the disciples. For greater durability of the image, Leonardo decided to cover the stone wall with a layer of resin, plaster and mastic, and then write on this layer with tempera. Due to the chosen method, the painting began to collapse within a few years after the end of the work.
5. Mosaic
The rapid development of Christian architecture was bound to have an impact on early Christian painting and lead to large-scale changes of a truly revolutionary nature. Suddenly there was a need to cover huge areas of walls with images worthy of their monumental frame. It became necessary to achieve compliance of the internal appearance with the architectural environment. In the course of this process, a new remarkable type of fine art arose - early Christian wall mosaics, which to a large extent supplanted the methods of making wall paintings that existed before. The mosaic is made of cube-shaped pieces of colored glass (1 m 3) - smalt, which allows you to give bright and varied colors. The transparent brightness and strict geometric order of the image made with smalt made the mosaic an incredibly suitable technique for temple decoration. This is at the same time a discordant, but amazingly well-crafted choir striving for unity, a consonance of form and its inner expressiveness. Mosaic denies that the surface is solid and flat, it both dematerializes and ultimately visualizes this surface.
Examples.
5. The system of mosaics of the Cathedral of St. Sophia of Kyiv
· Zenith of the dome, Christ Pantocrator.
· Vaults of the dome, 4 archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel.
· The drum is cut through with 12 windows, between them there is an image of 12 apostles.
Sails, 4 apostles: Mark, Matthew, Luke, John
Girth arches: 40 martyrs of Sebaste (10 on each arch)
Western surface of the eastern pillars: Annunciation (left - Arch. Gabriel, right - Virgin Mary)
· The conch of the apse, Our Lady of Oranta, the housekeeper, or as it is called the “Indestructible Wall”.
Middle tier of the apse: Eucharist (communion of the apostles with bread and wine)
Lower tier: Hierarchial rank (12 figures)
We live in a modern world, which implies the development of information technology, science and technology. But along with the focus on the material values of people, and the erection of new futuristic buildings, there are majestic architectural structures of past eras, and the importance of their preservation, as a memory of the history of our civilization. Earlier, we considered such types of art as stucco decoration and gilding leaf. Today we will talk about an equally important element of restoration - monumental painting.
Monumental painting as an art form.
Monumental painting is a kind of monumental art. Today it is inextricably linked with architecture. The concept of monumental comes from the Latin word "monument", which means "remembering", "reminiscent". Walls, floors, ceilings, arches, windows, etc. are painted with monumental painting. It can be either the dominant of an architectural monument or its decoration. The very monumentality of wall painting is determined by its connection with the architectural appearance, which forms a single artistic concept. It is also the most ancient kind of painting. This is evidenced by the murals in caves and rock paintings that have been preserved on almost all continents, which were created by primitive people. Due to their durability and stationarity, samples of monumental painting have been preserved from almost all cultures that created developed architecture, and sometimes they are the only type of surviving paintings of the era. These monuments are of great value, and sometimes they are the only source of information about the characteristics of cultures of different historical eras.
History of formation and development.
In ancient times, painting could not be imagined outside walls, ceilings and other structures. Since artists and painters were not yet familiar with the art of drawing on canvas. Thanks to the painting, they wanted to convey to their contemporaries and compatriots the meaning of mythological plots, heroic events, and religious legends.
The era of ancient Egypt gave us the first monuments of monumental architecture. They were pyramids and temples, tombs for the pharaohs, which have survived to this day. Decorating the inner space of the pyramids, monumental painting is the most important source of information about the culture of Ancient Egypt, the state and social structure, the features of everyday life and crafts of the Egyptians.
Unfortunately, examples of monumental painting Ancient Greece almost all are lost. Mostly only mosaics have survived, allowing you to get a general idea of \u200b\u200bthe monumental painting of the Greeks. One of the earliest ancient Greek masterpieces of monumental painting is the Palace of Knossos. Its fragments were discovered by archaeologists on the island of Crete. This ancient monument of art is a testament to how diverse the horizons of the ancient Greeks were.
In the era of European middle ages monumental painting gained its distribution in the form of stained glass technique. Also, the best masters of the Renaissance created many grandiose in scope and virtuosic in execution of frescoes.
Monumental painting has reached great development in such Asian countries as: China, India, Japan. The worldview and religion of the Eastern countries differed from those of Europe. This was reflected in monumental painting. Masters of the East decorated temples and residential buildings with images of nature, fantastic landscapes.
Modern monumental painting.
Today, monumental types of painting continue to be actively used in the design of interiors and exteriors of buildings. As before, modern monumental painting preserves the tradition of hand-painting walls, while developing technologies, improving and mastering new materials. Another trend is the development of techniques for making mosaics and stained glass.
If in the past the masters painted mainly temples and palaces, then modern monumental painting adorns museums, exhibition complexes, palaces of culture, railway stations, hotels, private mansions, apartments and other buildings and structures.
This is due to the fact that now monumental painting is mainly a decorative effect that creates a general atmosphere in a certain architectural structure, while earlier it was used to form a historical heritage.
Painting subjects are more often selected from the purpose of the room, giving preference to realism, which creates a three-dimensional effect in the interior and allows you to give the appropriate mood to the architectural complex from the inside.
Monumental painting can be placed on walls, ceilings and vaults, smoothly flowing from one plane to another, forming a single plot.
Depending on the position of the viewer, the perception of this monumental painting may change. But its effect must necessarily be maintained or even enhanced. In modern monumental painting, new materials of mosaic and stained glass are being actively mastered. In painting, the fresco, which is extremely laborious and requires technical virtuosity, gives way to the “a secco” technique (on dry plaster), which is more stable in the atmosphere of modern cities.
Basic techniques of monumental painting.
Depending on the method of obtaining the image, 5 main types of techniques can be used in monumental painting: fresco, tempera painting, mosaic, stained glass, and secco. Let's consider each technique in more detail.
Technique. Fresco
Description. The technique of monumental painting, according to which, the image is created on wet plaster with paints from a powder pigment diluted in water. On dried plaster, lime forms a calcium film that protects the design and makes the fresco durable.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Technique. Tempura painting
Description. As in the fresco technique, the image is applied to wet plaster. But in this case, vegetable pigment paints diluted in an egg or oil are used.
Technique. Mosaic
Description. The image is assembled and laid out from multi-colored pieces of smalt (opaque glass), stone, ceramic tiles and other materials. Attaches mostly to flat surfaces. It was very popular in Soviet times: for
metro station decorations
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Technique. stained glass
Description. The technique of monumental painting, designed to be placed on the glass and windows of the room. The image consists of pieces of multi-colored glass connected by lead solders. The finished drawing is placed in the window opening. Previously, this technique was used in the decoration of medieval Gothic cathedrals. Currently popular in interior decoration
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Technique. A secco
Description. Wall painting, performed, unlike frescoes, on hard, dried plaster, re-moistened. Paints for this technique are rubbed on vegetable glue, an egg. The main advantage over fresco is the pace, which allows you to paint a larger surface area per working day than with fresco. But at the same time, this technique is not so durable.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Epilogue
Monumental painting has come a long way of becoming, developing and improving along with mankind for several thousand years. This art will live as long as people retain a sense of beauty and the need to decorate everything in which we interact in the course of our lives. Monumental painting is undoubtedly a very important historical value. Thanks to its longevity, different generations of people and nations can learn a lot about the life of their ancestors, about the history of lost civilizations, about religious culture and many other historical facts. Therefore, it is important to preserve the objects of this art, to constantly restore them. The company "Meander" has qualified specialists and artists for the restoration of monumental painting. We can perform works of any complexity, including paintings.
Painting restoration. The Great Church of the Winter Palace and the Golden Drawing Room. Anichkov Palace. Made by "Meander"
Fresco. A fresco today often means any decorative interior painting, regardless of the technique in which it is made, be it oil, glue or tempera painting. Fresco painting has been known since ancient Greece, although the name itself comes from Italian (tesso, which means "fresh." It is done with mineral paints diluted in water on freshly applied lime plaster. During the Renaissance, it was called a fresco(afresco), which means “to write on fresh plaster.” Of all the painting techniques, this is the most difficult, as it requires high skill from the artist: you need to write quickly (while the plaster is wet) and immediately correctly, since nothing You also need to take into account that paints look different on a wet wall than on a dry one, which is why many artists who are professional in oil and tempera cannot work in this technique.
Fresco painting, on the one hand, ensures the strength and purity of the color tone (except for water, no additives are added to the paint), and on the other hand, high strength and durability (the paint flows when the plaster is still wet into all the smallest irregularities and pores on the surface). and chemically fixed with the lime contained in the plaster).
Fresco painting is performed on stone or brick walls bound with lime mortar, on wooden plastered walls - provided that the plaster is of considerable thickness. The plaster used as a primer is not applied to the brick, but to the previously laid base. The latter is applied in two layers (the lower one is called a spray, the upper one is a coating). The bottom layer level the surface of the base. The covering is applied before the start of painting only on the area that is supposed to be painted. Plaster soil is made from lean lime mortar. Washed river sand of medium fraction is used as a filler.
When a smooth, fine-grained surface is needed, the coating is applied in two or three layers: the first with a thickness of 10-12 mm, the second, half an hour after the first, with a thickness of 1.5-3.5 mm. The last gesso-putty layer is made from a mixture of an equal amount of lime-dough and marble flour, mixed to a consistency and putty. When a general color background is required for painting, pigments are added to the coating layer solution in an amount of up to 10% of the total weight of lime.
Most of the manufactured powder pigments for fresco painting must be crushed before use, so that when applied to the ground they are firmly connected (dust particles must be part of the hard crust formed on the surface of the plaster). Paints are not just mixed with water, but rubbed until the lumps disappear.
Painting with oil paints. As many centuries of experience have shown, oil painting is less suitable for painting than others. It is a dense impervious layer of paint that prevents the wall from self-ventilating. This disadvantage requires special preparation of the wall, maintaining the temperature and humidity conditions in the room to protect the painting from moisture, which can accumulate inside and cause destruction of the image. An example of this is the story of the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper". During the Renaissance, oil painters searched in vain for means against the change and destruction of painting under the influence of damp walls. Despite the fact that fresco and tempera painting flourished at that time, Leonardo da Vinci preferred oil, as it allowed to stretch the process of work.Despite the thorough preparation of the wall surface at that time, most of the masterpiece collapsed - mainly from dampness.Another disadvantage of oil painting is the shiny surface, which makes it difficult to view the image from all points of the room.But, despite the obvious shortcomings, walls were often decorated with such paintings.
Preparing walls and ceilings for oil painting is no different from preparing for high-quality painting. The pre-leveled and plastered surface must be sanded so that it is smooth and the texture is fine-grained. Lime plaster is best suited for this purpose. It must be dry
Dried plaster can be impregnated with linolenic acid, a solution of ammonium carbonate or zinc sulfate, linseed oil, covered with oil primer or drying oil. But it’s better not to write on plaster at all, but to separate the painting from the wall by mounting it in the last slab (the size of a painting) from slate (free from iron pyrite) and asp, a metal sheet (tin, copper, aluminum), wood slab or linoleum. In some cases, a canvas is glued onto the plaster. The sticker is produced on a pro-oiled surface, which still gives some off-lint. First, the canvas soaked in drying oil is fixed on nails, then smoothed with palms or a roller to the wall, making hand movements from the center to the edges. In some cases, the painting is applied to the base, attached to the wall on a stretcher, leaving some distance between them. Linen canvas of medium thickness and density is used as a base, without knots and sparse hairs. The subframe is made from dry wood. The canvas is stretched with uniform efforts from the middle to the edges, and then primed.
The painting is done with artistic oil paints in tubes. The main defects of oil paintings are withering, that is, loss of gloss and color saturation, cracks. The main reasons for what is happening are porous primer that absorbs oil from paints, an excessive amount of volatile solvents, applying paint to an insufficiently dried previous layer, applying excessively thick layers of paint, and aging of the paint film. The formed withered places are eliminated by impregnating them with oil, or they are covered with special varnishes.
Painting with glue paints. Adhesive painting, like fresco, is one of the most ancient. Due to the ease of implementation, the comparative cheapness of materials, as well as the beautiful, airy and at the same time velvety tone, it is still popular. Despite some shortcomings, under the conditions of normal operation of buildings, it remains for a long time and does not lose its original freshness. Binders for glue paints are varieties of animal glue (bone or fish glue) soluble in warm water. Adhesive painting is easy to wash off or blur with water. Its main enemy is the increased humidity of the air in the room (with it, the glue loses its binding ability). Additions of alum to the color make the adhesive film waterproof, but change the properties of the paint: it becomes viscous, which makes it difficult to work. Excess glue reduces the picturesque quality of the color, leads to cracks and peeling. The less glue the solution contains, the more beautiful and sonorous the paint is.
Adhesive paintings are performed directly on plaster or canvas glued to it. Some artists paint on canvas stretched on a stretcher. Then the canvas is glued to the surface of the wall or ceiling. It is not easy to stick a finished work, because painting of this kind is not as elastic as oil or tempera. Therefore, cracks or peeling of paints from the base are possible. In order to increase elasticity, a little flour paste, glycerin or drying oil is introduced into the adhesive solution.
Before you start painting on plaster, a solution of soap or copper sulfate is applied to it in the following proportions: 1 kg of soap is taken for 16 liters of water and 1.2 kg of copper sulfate for the same amount of water. Rast-thieves are applied hot. After drying, a white primer is applied on top. When working with adhesive paints, it must be remembered that when they dry, they lighten significantly, like all water-based paints.
Wax painting. The technique of painting with wax paints is quite ancient. Wax is a very stable substance and under normal conditions can remain unchanged for a long time. Unlike oil, wax does not oxidize, cracks do not form in it, it does not dissolve in water, it is not even wetted by it. The disadvantage of wax is flammability. In ether, turpentine, gasoline, wax dissolves without heating, and in fatty oils - when heated.
Most often, two methods of wax painting are used: hot (pigments are first rubbed on molten wax, then wax paint is melted on a special palette and applied to the surface with a hot metal tool) and cold (wax paints are applied cold with a brush). As a binder, wax solutions or emulsions are used.
The basis for wax painting is wood, plaster, plastic, stone, which do not have a polished surface. Primer is not required.
Tempera painting. In view of its merits, tempera, along with fresco, was very popular in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, and due to the laboriousness of the latter, these two methods were often used in one work. Depending on the composition of the binder, tempera has either a greater or a lower density and therefore closes the pores of the wall to a different extent (but still less than oil) and has a different tone.
For painting, egg and casein tempera are best suited. An old recipe for tempera for painting: a whole egg, weak wine or table vinegar (beer, bread kvass, wine diluted with water) in an amount equal to the volume of the egg.
For wall painting, casein tempera of various compositions is also used, and tempera containing a smaller amount of oils and resins is considered more suitable. It has a lighter and airy tone and to a lesser extent interferes with the “breathing” of the walls. Casein tempera has a high adhesive ability. It bonds well with the surface of the material it is applied to, therefore it requires strong plaster and dense soil, as otherwise it may tear the surface.
The paint is applied to lime plaster, which can consist of two layers. The first includes coarse sand and lime, the second - crushed marble (passed through a fine sieve) and lime; or two parts of alabaster are taken for one part of lime; or alabaster mixed with crushed marble. The result is a smooth surface that is white.
In order not to mess around with plaster, you can stick a canvas with a finished painting or a blank canvas for painting on the wall. Tempera painting, made on canvas (from linen or hemp fine-grained fabric), glued to plaster (with paste on rye flour, into which rosin and alkali are introduced, which increase stickiness), has great strength. If necessary, it can be removed from the wall or ceiling and moved to another location. Medium density canvas is primed once with a thick layer. If you want to get a perfectly ugly surface, the canvas is primed three to six times (with a thin layer of egg or casein emulsion primer with a small oil content), and then the primer is sanded with emery cloth.
Painting with modern colors. Since the interest in painting does not fade away, contemporary artists are striving to find simpler methods that are not inferior to traditional ones either in quality or in durability. An example of this is silicate painting. In this case, glass of a certain composition (potassium silicate) is used as a binder for paints. It has the form of a syrupy, colorless or colored liquid, well diluted with water, having an adhesive ability. The palette of silicate painting is identical to fresco. True, when fixing the paint darkens a little.
Sometimes artists use paints intended for painting interior walls - latex, water-based, water-dispersion, water-emulsion, acrylic-dispersion, water-latex, but more often acrylic, for artwork, which have wide rock palette. The latter do not fade with time and even become brighter. Depending on the amount of thinner or water, the effect is oil, gouache or watercolor. At the end of the work, the image is covered with a matte or semi-gloss acrylic varnish, which creates a protective layer. Today, artists, as a rule, do not write directly on the walls, but use cardboard, plywood, a stretcher with a stretched canvas as a basis. Such works of painting can be moved to another room or house in case of a change of residence.
