Fresco Medium

As new buildings and cities were being built to accommodate the over flowing population, the problem of how to decorate them arise. After only being used sporadically in the Middle Ages, fresco painting during the Renaissance took on a unparalleled significance among the major arts. Fresco painting is laborious and requires great skill, but because its materials are inexpensive, it is far more affordable than any other type of decoration.

Fresco Cycle

Basically, a fresco cycle is a series of paintings, all usually narrating various parts of one or more stories. It is this type of cycle that represents the quint essential Renaissance work of art. Renaissance society expected fresco painters to fashion comprehensible images and stories(cycles) that would educate, inspire, and give pleasure to the eye. In technique, style, and influence, Renaissance frescoes embody that brilliance of thought and expression that so characterizes the period in which they were painted.

Preamble