Fresco FRES'CO, n.
1. Coolness; shade; a cool refreshing state of the air; duskiness.
2. A picture not drawn in glaring light, but in dusk.
3. A method of painting in relief on walls, performed with water-colors on fresh plaster, or on a wall laid with mortar not yet dry. the colors, incorporating with the mortar, and drying with it, become very durable. It is called fesco, either because it is done on fresh plaster, or because it is used on walls and buildings in the open air.
4. A cool refreshing liquor.

fresco n 1: a mural done with watercolors on wet plaster 2: a durable method of painting on a wall by using watercolors on wet plaster v 1: paint onto wet plaster on a wall

fresco forces

fresco noun (plural frescoes) Etymology: Italian, from fresco fresh, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German frisc fresh Date: 1598 1. the art of painting on freshly spread moist lime plaster with water-based pigments 2. a painting executed in fresco • fresco transitive verb

fresco
n. (pl. -os or -oes)
1 a painting done in water-colour on a wall or ceiling while the plaster is still wet.
2 this method of painting (esp. in fresco).
Phrases and idioms:
fresco secco = SECCO.
Derivatives:
frescoed adj.
Etymology: It., = cool, fresh

fresco (frescoes, or frescos) A fresco is a picture that is painted on a plastered wall when the plaster is still wet. N-COUNT see also alfresco

Fresco the art of painting on walls freshly laid with plaster, or which have been damped so as to permit of the colour sinking into the lime; there were two methods, the fresco secco and the fresco buon; in the first the wall was sprinkled with water, and the colours were then worked into the damp surface; in the second process, in which finer and more permanent effects were obtained, the artist worked upon the fresh plaster of the wall (which is laid for him as he proceeds), pouncing or tracing his designs with a stylus; only colours which are natural earths can be employed, as they require to be mixed with lime ere being applied, and are subject to the destroying effect of that substance; as a method of mural decoration it was known to the ancients, and some of the finest specimens are to be seen in the Italian cathedrals of the 14th and 15th centuries; the art is still in vogue, but can only be practised successfully in a dry climate.

Fresco \Fres"co\, n.; pl. Frescoes or Frescos. [It., fr. fresco fresh; of German origin. See Fresh, a.] 1. A cool, refreshing state of the air; duskiness; coolness; shade. [R.] --Prior. 2. (Fine Arts) (a) The art of painting on freshly spread plaster, before it dries. (b) In modern parlance, incorrectly applied to painting on plaster in any manner. (c) A painting on plaster in either of senses a and b .

Fresco \Fres"co\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Frescoed; p. pr. & vb. n. Frescoing.] To paint in fresco, as walls.

102 Moby Thesaurus words for "fresco": abstract, abstraction, altarpiece, apply paint, bedaub, bedizen, begild, besmear, block print, brush on paint, calcimine, calcimining, coat, coating, collage, color, color print, complexion, copy, cover, covering, cyclorama, dab, daub, deep-dye, dip, diptych, distemper, double-dye, dye, emblazon, enamel, enameling, engild, engraving, face, fast-dye, gild, gilding, glaze, glazing, gloss, glossing, grain, hue, icon, illuminate, illumination, illustration, image, imbue, ingrain, japan, japanning, lacquer, lay on color, likeness, miniature, montage, mosaic, mural, paint, painting, panorama, parget, photograph, picture, pigment, prime, priming, print, representation, reproduction, shade, shadow, shellac, shellacking, slop on paint, smear, stain, stained glass window, staining, stencil, still life, stipple, stippling, tableau, tapestry, tinct, tincture, tinge, tint, tone, triptych, undercoat, undercoating, varnish, varnishing, wall painting, wash, whitewash, whitewashing

look up a word or phrase

Possible images of Fresco