INDIAN FRESCO

What is art?
ART IS NOT A THING IT IS A WAY
To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having
evoked it in oneself, then, by means of movements, lines, colours, sounds,
or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling that others may
experience the same feeling this is the activity of art.
Art stimulates different parts of our brains to make us laugh or incite us to
riot, with a whole range of emotions in between. Art gives us a way to be
creative and express ourselves. You could say
"Art is something that makes us more thoughtful and wellrounded humans."
Well said by Pablo Picasso
art is the lie that enables us to realize truth
Art is a way that makes us feel how precious something is, how beautiful it
is and how beautiful it can be art makes you to live in a wonderful way
and to make the world a wonderful place to live. It is a process of seeing in
things that are not you.
There are a lot of types of art say fractal art, abstract art, and many more
but art is a way which Leeds to the happiness and good feeling as a whole
of an individual. Art can be everything to someone and nothing to some
other else .Art is just like everything that you can imagine art is such a
large part of our everyday lives that we may hardly even stop to think
about it. Look at the desk or table where you are, right this minute.
Someone designed that. It is art. Your shoes are art. Your coffee cup is art.
All functional design, well done, is art. So, you could say "Art is something
that is both functional and aesthetically pleasuring to eyes.
If a person perfectly came to know what actually art is then for him the
world would be different, he would have a different way to look at things.
It is something to be felt rather than to understand it. If you understand a
painting and draw it you will be a painter but if u feels it u will be called an
artist
So whatever art you pursue you should have the feel of that art in your
soul. Wherever you are whatever you are doing but that art should be
there in back of your mind always as it is said:-

Art enables us to find ourselves and loose ourselves at the

same time

WHAT IS FRESCO?
Fresco is an art form which is practised all over the world frescoes are
usually done on walls of buildings. It is a technique of mural painting
executed upon freshly laid lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for
the pigment and, with the setting of the plaster; the painting becomes an
integral part of the wall. The word fresco is derived from the Italian
Adjective fresco meaning "fresh". Fresco may thus be contrasted with
secco mural painting techniques, on plasters of lime, earth, or gypsum, or
applied to supplement painting in fresco. The fresco technique has been
employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian
Renaissance painting.

HISTORY OF FRESCO
From prehistory to the current days, artistic developments reflect the
societies in which they occur and their geographic locations. The history of
fresco painting is closely related to, and a reflection of, the history of art
generally.
Fresco, meaning fresh in Italian, is a form of mural painting in which earth
pigments are applied directly to wet lime plaster.
Prehistoric and early fresco painting
The first fresco-type paintings date back to no less than 30,000 years ago
with the paintings created in the Chauvet cave in France. Some 15,000
years ago frescoes were created in other caves in Lascaux, France and
Altamira, Spain. These early examples of fresco painting are testimony of
the long and varied history of this art form. The early frescoes, painted on
the limestone walls of the caves, contained remarkably expressive and
realistic figures of horses, bison, bears, lions, mammoths, and
rhinoceroses, which continue to fascinate researchers and art historians.

By 1500 BC the techniques of fresco painting evolved to painting on wet

plaster, allowing more flexibility in the use and location of frescoes for
decorative purposes. The earliest known examples of such frescoes
around 1500 BC are to be found on the island of Crete in Greece. The most
famous of these, The Toreador, depicts a sacred ceremony in which
individuals jump over the backs of large bulls. While some similar frescoes
have been found in other locations around the Mediterranean basin,
particularly in Morocco, their origins are subject to speculation. Some art
historians believe that fresco artists from Crete may have been sent to Morocco
as part of a trade exchange, a possibility which raises to the fore the importance
of this art form within the society of the times.
Frescoes were also painted in ancient Greece, but few of these works have
survived. In southern Italy, at Paestum, which was a Greek colony, a tomb
containing frescoes dating back to 470 BC was discovered. These frescoes depict
scenes of the life and society of ancient Greece, and constitute valuable
historical testimonials. One shows a group of men reclining at a banquet and
another shows a man diving into the sea.

WHAT IS INDIAN FRESCO?

In Indian sub-continent we find frescoes that date back from the 1 st
century BCE to the 6th and 7th CCE .these paintings are from the Buddhist
period in the ancient Ajanta caves in present days Madhya Pradesh in
India .They tell the story of Gautama Buddha and his teachings in picture.
They were painted by Buddhist monk who also illustrated stories from
jataka tales.
Thanks to large number of ancient rock-cut cave temples, valuable
ancient and early medieval frescoes have been preserved in more than 20
locations of India. The frescoes on the ceilings and walls of the Ajanta
Caves were painted between c. 200 BC and 600 and are the oldest known
frescoes in India. They depict the Jataka tales that are stories of the
Buddha's life in former existences as Bodhisattva. The narrative episodes
are depicted one after another although not in a linear order. Their
identification has been a core area of research on the subject since the
time of the site's rediscovery in 1819. Other locations with valuable
preserved ancient and early medieval frescoes include Bagh Caves, Ellora
Caves, Sittanavasal, Armamalai Cave, Badami Cave Temples and other
locations. Frescoes have been made in several techniques including
tempera technique.

The later Chola paintings were discovered in 1931 within the

circumambulatory passage of the Brihadisvara Temple in India and are the
first Chola specimens discovered.
Researchers have discovered the technique used in these frescos. A
smooth batter of limestone mixture is applied over the stones, which took
two to three days to set. Within that short span, such large paintings were
painted with natural organic pigments.

During the Nayak period the Chola paintings were painted over. The Chola
frescos lying underneath have an ardent spirit of saivism expressed in
them. They probably synchronised with the completion of the temple by
Rajaraja Cholan the Great.
The frescoes in Dogra/ Pahari style paintings exist in their unique form at
Sheesh Mahal of Ramnagar (105 km from Jammu and 35 km west of
Udhampur). Scenes from epics of Mahabharat and Ramayan along with
portraits of local lords form the subject matter of these wall paintings.
Rang Mahal of Chamba (Himachal Pradesh) is another site of historic Dogri
fresco with wall paintings depicting scenes of Draupti Cheer Haran, and
Radha- Krishna Leela. This can be seen preserved at National Museum at
New Delhi in a chamber called Chamba Rang Mahal.
The tradition and methods of Indian cliff painting gradually evolved
throughout many thousands of years - there are multiple locations found
with prehistoric art. The early caves included overhanging rock decorated
with rock-cut art and the use of natural caves during the Mesolithic period
(6000 BCE). Their use has continued in some areas into historic times. The
Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, a World Heritage Site, are on the edge of the
Deccan Plateau where deep erosion has left huge sandstone outcrops. The
many caves and grottos found there contain primitive tools and decorative
rock paintings that reflect the ancient tradition of human interaction with
their landscape, an interaction that continues to this day. The oldest
frescoes of historical period have been preserved in the Ajanta Caves from
the 2nd century BCE. Despite climatic conditions that tend to work against
the survival of older paintings, in total there are known more than 20
locations in India with paintings and traces of former paintings of ancient
and early medieval times. The most significant frescoes of the ancient and
early medieval period are found in the Ajanta, Bagh, Ellora, and
Sittanavasal caves.

The Chola fresco paintings were discovered in 1931 within the

circumambulatory passage of the Brihadisvara Temple in India and are the
first Chola specimens discovered.
Researchers have discovered the technique used in these frescoes. A
smooth batter of limestone mixture is applied over the stones, which took
two to three days to set. Within that short span, such large paintings were
painted with natural organic pigments.
During the Nayak period the Chola paintings were painted over. The Chola
frescoes lying underneath have an ardent spirit of saivism is expressed in
them. They probably synchronised with the completion of the temple by
Rajaraja Cholan the Great.
Kerala mural painting has well preserved fresco or mural or wall painting
in temple walls in Pundarikapuram, Ettumanoor and Aymanam and
elsewhere.

TECHNIQUE
The technique of fresco is unique because it is painted on wet plaster .this
makes the paint part of the plaster and so the frescoes can survive for
long time.
The paint for frescoes is made from natural materials like earth, stones,
plants etc. this is also a special skill as these materials are processed in
different ways to make the pigment. Each material is dried and crushed
and then ground down to a fine powder which makes the pigment.
First drawings have to be made on the paper. These can be of many
different kinds. Some can be floral and plant motifs, some geometric
patterns, and some can be animal, bird and human
When the drawing is complete .it is traced in butter paper .Then pin holes
are made with a needle on the outlines of the drawing .The drawing is
then transferred to the wall or surface by dusting fine coal powder through
the pin holes .This called suzen kari
The plaster on the wall is made from lime .the surface of the lime plaster
is made perfect and smooth. After the drawing transferred to the surface
painting can be begin.

But the most important thing is that all this needs to be done while the
plaster is still wet. So you only prepare that much of the surface which can
be finished at the time.

The technique of fresco in the Ajanta caves is very similar .The only
difference is that as these murals were done on the rock walls of caves
they had to prepare the rock surface which was rough. First the rock wall
was covered with earth or cow-dung mixed with chopped straw or animal
hair to bind it to the wall. This was then made smooth and then a thin
layer of lime plaster was applied on top. After the painting was complete it
was burnished or polished to make it smooth and shiny.
This method was used all over India with very little change .This is called
buono fresco or true fresco. Often paintings were done on dry plaster. This
is called fresco or secco fresco .Fresco buono or painting on wet plaster
was the method used in Europe and fresco secco mostly used in India.

CONSERVATION OF FRESCO
The climate and environment of Venice has proved to be a problem for
frescoes and other works of art in the city for centuries. The city is built on
a lagoon in northern Italy. The humidity and the rise of water over the
centuries have created a phenomenon known as rising damp. As the
lagoon water rises and seeps into the foundation of a building, the water
is absorbed and rises up through the walls often causing damage to
frescoes. Venetians have become quite adept in the conservation methods
of frescoes. The mold aspergillus versicolor can grow after flooding, to
consume nutrients from frescos.
The following is the process that was used when rescuing frescos in La
Fenice, a Venetian opera house, but it is the same process for similarly
damaged frescoes. First, a protection and support bandage of cotton
gauze and polyvinyl alcohol is applied. Difficult sections are removed with
soft brushes and localized vacuuming. The other areas that are easier to
remove (because they had been damaged by less water) are removed
with a paper pulp compress saturated with bicarbonate of ammonia
solutions and removed with deionized water. These sections are
strengthened and reattached then cleansed with Base Exchange resin
compresses and the wall and pictorial layer were strengthened with
barium hydrate. The cracks and detachments are stopped with lime putty
and injected with an epoxy resin loaded with micronized silica.

HOW FRESCO BECOMES AN ART?

In fresco painting it is necessary to have a well-thought-out design
prepared beforehand, as the medium does not permit experimentation or
changes in drawing as is possible in most other ways of painting. If the
plaster dries before it is completed, or if you have made a serious error,
start over again with a new coata little bit of plastering experience will
convince you that it is wiser to do the best you can with the piece before
youas plastering is really the only hard part of fresco painting.

Light, space, air and architecture are all determining factors in how the
fresco shall be painted. The carrying power of the painting must be
experienced in the actual setting, and it usually takes one patch, or less,
to serve as the guinea pig in establishing the right key. This is one reason
why a fresco painted directly on the wall, where it will always be seen, has
a better chance for being right than does a mural painted on canvas in the
artist's studio, and later glued to the wall.
Hence the person or artist pursuing the fresco painting must have
experience and also concentration here fresco becomes an art on the
experience and a well thought process of an artist .fresco painting will be
more good when a good thought process will be given to it.

CONCLUSION