fresco
noun
Did you know?
If the word fresco brings to mind images of eating an alfresco meal—that is, a meal eaten outside “in the fresh air”—your gut is on the right track: fresco is Italian for “fresh,” and the culinary usage is relatively common in English. But what puts the “fresh” in the English fresco is not so appetizing: the name of this art form refers to the fresh plaster used in it. Fresco is an ancient art, used as early as the Minoan civilization on Crete, but it reached the height of its popularity during the Italian Renaissance of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Fresco comes in two types: in fresco secco (“dry fresco”), a dry wall is soaked in limewater, and lime-resistant pigments are then applied; in buon fresco (“good fresco”; buon fresco is also called “true” fresco), used by Michelangelo in his 16th century Sistine Chapel frescos, pigments are fused directly with wet plaster.
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Fresco and the Art World
The Italian word fresco means “fresh” and comes from a Germanic word akin to the source of English fresh. In the Renaissance, pittura a fresco, meaning “painting freshly,” referred to paint applied while the plaster on the wall was still wet, as opposed to pittura a secco “painting dryly,” in which paint is applied when the plaster was dry. In English, fresco appears earliest as part of the phrase in fresco; it does not appear as a noun referring to a painting until 1670. A different sense of Italian fresco, meaning “fresh air,” appears in the phrase al fresco “outdoors,” borrowed into English as alfresco and used particularly in reference to dining outdoors.
Examples of fresco in a Sentence
Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2024
The frescoes were never completed, but the drawings shed light on the two artists’ generative relationship.
—Olatunji Osho-Williams, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Dec. 2024
Statues and sculptures, paintings and frescoes were designed on the garments thanks to the Laser Lab, on display at the stand and Tonello’s most compact laser with easy plug-and-play installation, launched in 2021.
—Andrea Onate, WWD, 11 Dec. 2024
Paintings appear with geometric lines superimposed upon them, and certain aspects of his explorations of light and anatomy are paralleled with familiar frescos.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Nov. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near fresco
Cite this Entry
“Fresco.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fresco. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.
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fresco
noun
Italian, from fresco "fresh"
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