Abstract
From the 16th to the 18th century, many artists and craftspeople coming from villages in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, well known for its stucco tradition, worked actively in Central Europe. Baldassarre Fontana (Chiasso 1661–1733) was one of them; after a period in Rome, he was active in Moravia and Poland. This contribution presents an analytical insight into stucco works in the Ticino canton and Czech lands in order to provide an understanding of how artistic and technical skills were transferred according to local traditions, materials, or other requirements found abroad. By comparing two works that Fontana realized in his homeland and two works that he realized in today’s Czech Republic, the historic techniques used to make stucco are characterized, with an emphasis on technological aspects and materials. The detailed analyses provide information on materials and their production and processing methods in relation to the specific sites. They also reveal certain specific technological approaches which were common in all four cases that were studied. The most significant was the layered system of high-relief pieces, where the ground layer was made of lime–gypsum mortar and the finishing layer was pure air lime mortar. The construction of the finishing layer differed between the Czech and Swiss sites, suggesting some other influential factors.
Highlights
The artists and craftspeople from the region of the Lombard–Ticino lakes—corresponding geographically to what is today Northern Lombardy (Italy) and Southern Ticino (Switzerland)—were highly regarded from the middle of the 16th to the beginning of the 18th century by patrons of the arts in many parts of Europe [1,2,3]
The analyses showed that for the surface finishes a very pure high-calcium lime was used, which was in contrast to the less pure lime binder used in the ground mortar
An emblematic example was Baldassarre Fontana, who worked with his workshop in various regions of Europe, often hundreds of kilometers apart: in today’s Switzerland, Germany, and especially the Czech Republic and Poland
Summary
The artists and craftspeople from the region of the Lombard–Ticino lakes—corresponding geographically to what is today Northern Lombardy (Italy) and Southern Ticino (Switzerland)—were highly regarded from the middle of the 16th to the beginning of the 18th century by patrons of the arts in many parts of Europe [1,2,3]. This fact demonstrates their capacity to work in teams in well-connected networks, and a great ability to adapt to new environments. They had to constantly adapt to create stucco decorations, using what was available locally and adjusting their modus operandi
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