The Ancient Art of Fresco
Published: 04/15/2010 by Crossnore School
The Art of Fresco
The ancient art of fresco is the masterful combination of the artist's hand, lime, sand, water and pigment to form luminous, permanent images. A completed fresco begins with preliminary sketches that are refined by individual studies and portraits. Several layers of specially mixed sand and slaked lime, known as "scratch coats," are applied to the wall which becomes the fresco. Full scale cartoons are transferred to the scratch coats by "pounding", and eventually, the fresco artist begins the final phase of applying pigments and distilled water to the wet plaster in just the right combinations at just the right time, when the surface is neither too wet nor too dry.
Benjamin F. Long, IV
One of only four master fresco artists in the world, and the only American, Benjamin F. Long, IV, was born in Texas in 1945, grew up in Statesville, North Carolina, and studied at U IC-Chapel Hill and at the Art Student's League in lew York. Long later traveled to Italy were he served as apprentice to Maestro Pietro Annigoni. He has since achieved international fame as master of true fresco, drawing and oil painting. His excellence in fresco painting has resulted in worldwide commissions, including those in France, Italy and several sites throughout North Carolina, many of which compose the Benjamin F Long Fresco Trail.
www.beniongfrescotraii.com
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Art of the Fresco
