Raphael’s School of Athens: What is Fresco Painting? Materials and Process

In Week 1 of the Rome Bookclub series on Raphael’s School of Athens, David Mayernik, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture was joined by Professor Richard Piccolo, also of the School of Architecture. The professors introduced the listeners to the fresco. They answered the questions: What skills did Raphael need to paint in fresco? How is painting on a wall different from painting on an easel? What is the connection between manual and cognitive ability – do they facilitate each other, or get in the way? They also touched on modern fresco painting in Italy and America.

Mayernick began the discussion by asking Piccolo about his experience painting murals and how painting on a wall is different from painting on an easel. Piccolo replied that it is “dramatically different” in that with painting on an easel, the entire painting is in your field of vision, while when painting on a wall or ceiling, this is not the case. This makes it very difficult and impractical to improvise as you need to constantly step back and adjust the work. Piccolo recounted his experience painting a ceiling and said the difficulty lay in “ the proximity of the surface itself as you’re looking up and not horizontally […]I had to figure out how to see enough of my surroundings” (11:00). Mayernick added that the plaster walls were quite cold and that fresco artists often had certain times of the year in which they would take on work. This was due to both the cold temperatures and lack of natural light in the winter months. 

Next, the speakers discussed the connection between manual and cognitive ability. Mayernick likened the connection to a musician learning to play notes vs. creating music: “there is the manual dexterity just to be able to execute the notes and then there’s all the otehr stuff that makes it music and not just a bunch of notes”. Piccolo noted that many of Raphael’s contemporaries had much of the same training, but what “Raphael did with what he knew”. On the other hand, Mayernick said that “there’s a lot more to the school of athens than craft, but it is the thing that allowed him to make that sophisticated composition come to life” ( 20:00). 

Lastly, they spoke about modern fresco painting in Italy and America. Piccolo noted that fresco painting has “always been important in italy. It’s a part of heritage and way of thinking, even architecturally” (30:00). In Italy, there’s an idea that the fresco is part of the building – it belongs in a specific place and is not to be removed. It is considered with the architecture; it’s integral. However, this is an art form that is difficult to popularize in the modern world. Piccolo commented that frescos “defy movability and change, which is contrary to our modern society” (35:00).  

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