BharatNotes Fresco
noun; also verb (transitive)Usage in a UPSC answer
The restored frescoes of Ajanta, far from being mere relics, function as a living archive of India's syncretic heritage, and their conservation must therefore be treated as an instrument of soft power and civilisational diplomacy rather than a peripheral cultural expenditure.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
fresco (v), frescoed (adj), frescoist (n), frescos/frescoes (n pl)
Root
Italian fresco = fresh, cool; Vulgar Latin friscum; Proto-Germanic friskaz = fresh
Etymology
From Italian fresco ("fresh, cool"), from Vulgar Latin friscum, from Proto-Germanic friskaz; entered English in the 1590s in the phrase in fresco ("on fresh plaster"); first used as a standalone noun for a painting c. 1670.
Memory Hook
Fresco shares its root with FRESH: the pigment must be laid on FRESH, still-wet plaster - paint it fresh or it won't stick.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
A technique of mural painting on plaster, and a term applied to Indian art more loosely than it should be. The distinction is technical and consequential. In buon fresco the pigment is laid on wet lime plaster and locks into the wall chemically as the plaster carbonates, so the colour becomes part of the surface. At Ajanta the ground is a two-layer mud plaster mixed with rice husk and vegetable fibre, finished with a thin lime wash, and the pigments were applied after it had dried, using a binding medium. Scholars still argue whether to call the result fresco secco or tempera, but they agree it is not buon fresco. This matters practically rather than pedantically, because secco painting sits on the surface instead of within it and therefore flakes, which is exactly why conserving Ajanta has proved so difficult.
Don’t Confuse It With
Buon fresco applies pigment to wet plaster so it bonds chemically as the plaster sets, while fresco secco applies it to dry plaster with a binder so it rests on the surface and is far more fragile. Tempera uses a binding medium such as gum or egg and overlaps in practice with secco. A mural is any wall painting, of which fresco is one technique among several. Miniature painting is the contrasting Indian tradition, worked at small scale on paper or cloth and portable rather than fixed to a wall.
Hindi Meaning
भित्ति चित्र (bhitti chitra) for a mural painting.
Common Questions
- Are the Ajanta paintings true frescoes?
- No. Although they are habitually called frescoes, the pigment was applied to dry plaster rather than wet, making the technique fresco secco or tempera rather than buon fresco.
- What is the difference between buon fresco and fresco secco?
- In buon fresco pigment is applied to wet plaster and bonds chemically into the wall, while in fresco secco it is applied to dry plaster with a binder and remains on the surface, so it flakes more readily.
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