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''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of
plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive layers of contrasting
slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...
or glaze, and then in either case scratching so as to reveal parts of the underlying layer. The Italian
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
''sgraffiato'' is also used, especially of pottery.


Etymology

The word ''sgraffito'' comes from the Italian language and is derived from ''graffiare'' ("to scratch"), ultimately from the Greek (''gráphein'', "to write"). Related terms include '' graffito'' and ''
graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
''.


History

Sgraffito on walls has been used in Europe since classical times. It was popularized in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
in the 15th and 16th centuries and can be found in
African art African art describes the modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the ...
. In combination with ornamental decoration these techniques formed an alternative to the prevailing painting of walls. The technical procedure is relatively simple, and the procedures are similar to the painting of frescoes. Sgraffito played a significant role during the
Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
, with two of
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...
's workshop,
Polidoro da Caravaggio Polidoro Caldara, usually known as Polidoro da Caravaggio ( – 1543) was an Italian painter of the Mannerist period, "arguably the most gifted and certainly the least conventional of Raphael's pupils", who was best known for his now-vanished pa ...
and his partner Maturino da Firenze, among the leading specialists, painting palace facades in Rome and other cities. Most of their work has now weathered away. During the 16th century, the technique was brought to Germany by the master builders of the Renaissance and taken up with enthusiasm. As a simple native art, old examples of sgraffito can be found in the wide surroundings of
Wetterau The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains. Bettina von Arnim writes of ...
and
Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
. In Germany, the technique is most predominant in
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. The use of sgraffito was common in the creation of housing façades for the purposes of advertising. The technique was also used in
Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
, the
Engadin The Engadin or Engadine ( rm, ;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ...
,
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
. In
Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...
, sgraffito was implemented in the early 20th century by the Noucentista neo-classical architects and became a recurrent technique in façade decoration. Another use of sgraffito is seen in its simplified painting technique. One coat of paint is left to dry on a canvas or sheet of paper. Another coat of a different color is painted on top of the first layer. The artist then uses a palette knife or oil stick to scratch out a design, leaving behind an image in the color of the first coat of paint. This can also be achieved by using oil pastels for the first layer and black ink for the top layer. Sometimes a first coat of paint is not needed, and the wet coat scraped back reveals the canvas. This cannot be achieved by using the oil pastel method. This technique is often used in art classes to teach the sgraffito technique to novice art students. In glass making, sgraffito refers to creating imagery with finely powdered black glass on a sheet glass substrate. Sgraffito is a subtractive technique; light areas are created by scraping away the powdered glass, while dark areas are made by adding piles of powder. The powdered glass is manipulated with a variety of tools. The finished drawing is very vulnerable until the piece is fired in a kiln.


Art Nouveau

Examples of graphic work on facades saw a resurgence circa 1890 through 1915, in the context of the rise of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the
Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austr ...
, and particularly the Art Nouveau movement in Belgium and France. The English artist
Heywood Sumner George Heywood Maunoir Sumner (1853–1940) was originally an English painter, illustrator and craftsman, closely involved with the Arts and Crafts movement and the late-Victorian London art world. In his mid-forties he relocated to Cuckoo Hill, ...
has been identified''Modern mural decoration'' by
Alfred Lys Baldry Alfred Lys Baldry (1858 – 18 May 1939) was an English art critic and painter. He was born in Torquay, Devon, the son of Alfred Baldry and Charlotte Whitehead. Baldry studied at the University of Oxford and the Royal College of Art, and as ...
, 1902
as this era's pioneer of the technique, for example his work at the 1892 St Mary's Church, Sunbury, Surrey. Sumner's work is sgraffito ''per se'', scratched plaster, but the term has come to encompass a variety of techniques for producing exterior graphic decoration. Other examples include: * Ceramic panels on the Grande Maison de Blanc, Brussels, architect Oscar François, artist
Henri Privat-Livemont Henri Privat-Livemont (1861–1936) was an artist born in Schaerbeek, Brussels, Belgium. He is best known for his Art Nouveau posters. From 1883 to 1889, he worked and studied in the studios of Lemaire, Lavastre & Duvignaud. He, with Lemair ...
, 1896–1897 * The Hôtel Ciamberlani, Brussels, architect Paul Hankar, 1897–1898 * ''Princess of Dreams'' tile tympanum and other work, Hotel Metropol, Moscow, architect
William Walcot William Walcot (10 March 1874 – 21 May 1943) was a Scottish architect, graphic artist and etcher, notable as a practitioner of refined Art Nouveau (Style Moderne) in Moscow, Russia (as Вильям Францевич Валькот). His t ...
, artist
Mikhail Vrubel Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various med ...
, 1899–1907 * Cauchie House, Brussels, architect Paul Cauchie, 1905 * Ceramic ''Homage to Prague'' tympanum of the
Municipal House Municipal House ( cs, Obecní dům) is a civic building that houses Smetana Hall, a celebrated concert venue, in Prague. It is located on Náměstí Republiky next to the Powder Gate in the centre of the city. History The Royal Court palace us ...
in Prague, architect
Osvald Polívka Osvald Polívka (24 May 1859 in Enns – 30 April 1931 in Prague) was an Austrian-born Czech architect associated with the Art Nouveau period in Prague. Polívka designed many of Prague's significant landmarks of the era, plus other work in Brno ...
, artist Karel Špillar, 1905–1912


Gallery

File:9736 - Firenze, Palazzo Nasi - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 27-Oct-2007.jpg, Palazzo Nasi,
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
File:House in Olomouc.jpg, Building in
Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on t ...
File:Mais.Cauchie sgraf. 2e ét.JPG, Cauchie House,
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
File:Mödling - Bürgerhaus Rathausgasse 6.JPG, Renaissance façade with sgraffito in
Mödling Mödling () is the capital of the Austrian district of the same name located approximately 14 km south of Vienna. Mödling lies in Lower Austria's industrial zone (Industrieviertel). The Mödlingbach, a brook which rises in the Vienna Woods, ...
File:Althofen Salzburger Platz 6 Riederhaus West-Ansicht 20082018 4275.jpg, Renaissance façade with sgraffito in
Althofen Althofen ( sl, Stari Dvor) is a town in the district of Sankt Veit an der Glan in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography The town is located about north of Sankt Veit an der Glan and north of the state capital Klagenfurt in the Krappfeld ...
File:Pyrgi house1.JPG, House covered with sgraffito in the village of
Pyrgi Pyrgi (''Pyrgus'' in Etruscan) was originally an ancient Etruscan town and port in Latium, central Italy, to the north-west of Caere. Its location is now occupied by the borough of Santa Severa. It is notable for the discovery here of the g ...
,
Mastichochoria Mastichochoria ( el, Μαστιχοχώρια, , lit. "the mastic villages" in English) is a former municipality on the island of Chios (Χίος), North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Chios, ...
of
Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of masti ...
File:Casa del Gremi de Revenedors . façana esgrafiada 03.JPG, Building in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
File:GuentherZ 2007-04-28 2811 Drosendorf Rathaus.jpg, Town hall of Drosendorf-Zissersdorf File:Jindruchev Hradec - Haus am Markt - Sgraffito - Panorama.jpg, Building in
Jindřichův Hradec Jindřichův Hradec (; german: Neuhaus) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 21,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument rese ...


See also

* List of art techniques *
Scagliola Scagliola (from the Italian ''scaglia'', meaning "chips") is a type of fine plaster used in architecture and sculpture. The same term identifies the technique for producing columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements that resemble inla ...
* Stucco *
Terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bind ...
* Venetian plaster *
Scratchboard Scratchboard (North America and Australia) or scraperboard (Great Britain), is a form of direct engraving where the artist scratches off dark ink to reveal a white or colored layer beneath. Scratchboard refers to both a fine-art medium, and ...


References


External links


Sgraffito Collection
of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

{{Authority control Murals Plastering Types of pottery decoration Italian words and phrases Painting techniques