Abstract
This paper is devoted to wall painting in the Middle Ages (ca. late fifth to early fifteenth centuries), with a focus on twelfth to fifteenth century Italy. It is conceived as a critical conflation of diverse methodologies, approaches and research tools, with the aim of investigating the topic from different and complementary perspectives. Historical textual sources provide the interpretive framework for the examination, which is conducted on specific, yet interrelated aspects. Special attention is paid to technical features, including the methods and materials used to produce wall paintings. Data from scientific investigations are incorporated into the discussion with the purpose of elucidating theoretical conceptualizations with material pieces of evidence. A number of selected case studies is presented within the text in order to keep the focus of analysis on the materiality of the paintings, hence avoiding the formulation of abstract concepts in favour of more pragmatic approaches.
Highlights
This paper examines a distinctive use that, in the Middle Ages, artists made of plaster, mortar and pigments
Wall painting could be used for relatively small projects, such as individual panels dedicated to a single figure, it was more often carried out on huge areas, sometimes—as in the case of the Church of St Francis in Assisi (Umbria region, central Italy)—on entire buildings
From 19th July to 2nd of October 1369, 24 men worked on the decoration of two chapels in the Vatican palace (Vatican City, Rome, Italy), designated in documents as ‘magistri pictores’ or generically divided into ‘magistri et operarii’ (Zanardi 2002)
Summary
This paper examines a distinctive use that, in the Middle Ages, artists made of plaster, mortar and pigments. Wall painting could be used for relatively small projects, such as individual panels dedicated to a single figure, it was more often carried out on huge areas, sometimes—as in the case of the Church of St Francis in Assisi (Umbria region, central Italy)—on entire buildings. This circumstance, together with the fact that wall painting requires rapid execution times, necessitated a rigorous arrangement of the worksite and the work phases, as well as the simultaneous presence of several painters, organised in workshops led by a master. It is necessary to adopt a flexible approach, capable of accounting for possible variations, divergencies and fluctuations
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