7/30/2019 Use of Plaster in History

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Nathalie Dagmang

2010-24702 BFA Sculpture

Use of Plaster in History

Plaster today is widely used for casting and molding methods in sculpture. It can serve either as the final

product or a disposable mold that can be used for cement, wax, etc. Frescoes are very rarely made at

present, but in early history, it is the most widely used method of mural painting.

Ancient hieroglyphics were usually painted on plaster surfaces. The interiors of the palaces and

pyramids of Egyptian Pharaohs also had plaster surfaces. The plaster that they used was made of

calcined gypsum (powdery gypsum), the same material that we use today for plasterwork . Even their

method of plastering on reeds is also somewhat similar to the methods we use today when we plaster

on lath/woodboard. It was also discovered that animal hair was used to strengthen the plaster.

The Greeks somehow altered and improved the plaster recipe of the Egyptians and also used it to

decorate the interiors and exteriors of their kings palaces. One of the mos t extensively decorated

palaces is the Palace of Knossos, where frescoes decorated grand halls and rooms. They used the

technique buon fresco, where mineral colors were applied broadly to wet or dry plaster, bordered with

bands of geometric patterns. One example of the frescoes found within the palace is the Grandstand

fresco.

People from the middle ages continued using plaster for decoration. Like the Egyptians, they used

animal hair as reinforcement and used malt, beer, and animal blood to help alter the setting time andplasticity of plaster.

In the early renaissance plaster was still used to make frescoes. A technique in creating the fresco, The

Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise found in the Brancacci Chapel, used giomate. This particular

painting used 32 giomate, with each giomate needed to be prepared and used within a single day.

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