What Is 'Stucco'? English Interpretations of an Italian Term

Abstract

The English language is noted for the richness of its vocabulary, but it has failed to generate an adequate technical terminology for the discussion of plasterwork. This probably accounts for the importation into English of the Italian term ‘stucco’, to refer to one of the materials used by plasterers; and of the Italian ‘stucchi’, in its anglicized form ‘stuccoes’, to describe the decorative plasterwork executed in ‘stucco’. But the ways in which these terms have been used and their meanings shifted over time, appear to have produced greater confusion rather than clarification, and it is the purpose of this article to examine the process whereby this situation has arisen. It is not only in English that the use of the term ‘stucco’ now fails to convey any clear meaning to an audience, as was made apparent in a recent summary of the situation in France: les terminologies notamment employees par les artisans d’une part, et par les historiens de l’art d’autre part, ne recouvrent pas toujours les memes materiaux ni les memes techniques d’emploi.