Pisa is about to acquire a new cultural attraction - a huge wall painting covering 500 square meters which will tell the story of the patron saint of Pisa, Saint Ranierus.
The artist is Luca Battini.
But the piece will have a modern day twist - locals from the town have been striking a pose in a public casting session with the hopes of being a life size figure in the new fresco.
Christian Fraser now reports from Pisa.
(see video and comments by the Fresco School on the following page)
The narrator describes the method of transfer incorrectly - - "he says that after the drawing will be transferred to the wall it will be covered with a thin "transparent" layer of plaster on which the painting will be done."
It is impossible - plaster is NOT transparent, does not matter how thin the layer is!
The narrator is missing a step - first the entire composition is transferred, usually in red oxide, to the plaster wall on top of the plaster layer called "arriccio" or float coat (English). The resulted drawing is referred to as "Sinopia". Then a thin, painting layer called "intonaco" or skim coat (English) is applied over a section of the wall that is planned to be painted that day. The underlying part of the drawing (sinopia) is completely covered with this plaster layer and the drawing is transferred again using the method described later in the video.
Also the British artist in the video giving the commentary is incorrect by stating that the artist will have an hour to paint after the daily section of plaster is applied, is wrong.
The actual painting that is available to the artist in wall buon fresco (that is what being described) is between 8 - 12 hours.
(comment from the Fresco School)
Locals audition for Pisa fresco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH6-xh7oSDY
Pisa is about to acquire a new cultural attraction - a huge wall painting covering 500 square metres which will tell the story of the patron saint of Pisa, Saint Ranierus.
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