fresco

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the technique of painting with water-based pigment on fresh, damp plaster

   The artist learned fresco so the colors would bind to the drying wall.

2. 2
   noun

   a wall or ceiling painting made by this technique

   Restorers uncovered a Renaissance fresco beneath several layers of paint.

3. 3
   verb

   to decorate a wall or ceiling with a fresco

   The patrons hired an artist to fresco the chapel ceiling.

Borrowed from Italian fresco ('fresh, cool'), in the phrase dipingere a fresco, 'to paint on fresh plaster.' Italian fresco ultimately comes from the same Germanic source as English fresh. The noun shifted from naming the method to naming a painting produced by it.

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