An introductiotno Sgraffitoin England Jane Lamb describes a form of decoration which was popular in Britain in the last century. Sgraffito is a word used to describe a type of mural decoration, using an incised technique which is applied to enhance the walls of buildings, though it can also describe an incised decorative technique on pottery. Here the term is applied to the decorative technique used in relation to the embellishment of the surfaces of external and internal walls. The method consists of scratching or incising plaster or cement before it sets. The design is incised with a metal tool, as lines are made in a drawing. Once scratched out, another layer of plaster of a different colour beneath is revealed, with some designs including several different coloured mortars. Sgraffito designs have been combined with other graphic techniques such as fresco, and with other materials, such as mosaics. The fundamental difference between sgraffito and the other forms of decorative plasterwork is that it makes its chief demand upon the skill of the artist, architect or craftsman rather than the modeller to produce and carry out the designs. It is an art in which the management of lines and the ordering of them into suitable patterns or motifs are of special importance. The technique unites both drawing and painting skills, but it also requires the artist to have the precision of an expert plasterer in the application, layering and final finish of the materials. As with all plasters, its durability as a finish relies on the application of the correct plaster mixes in the right conditions. When used externally, sgraffito is a weather resistant form of ornamentation capable of withstanding heat and rain and frost because it is a very hard surface and much less porous than stone or bricks. During the Italian Renaissance the use of this mural decoration was developed to enhance the external walls and courtyards of palaces and houses, and was also used to create an illusion 24 of wealth by imitating the appearance of expensive building materials. As a decorative art, it is the effective and integral use of colour contrasts that highlights the sgraffito artists' skills. In Renaissance Italy, two colours, black and white were used, whereas during the 19th century, artists in England integrated three or four colours in their designs. To obtain these contrasting effects in the Renaissance, three layers of plaster were applied to an external wall. A first rendering coat covered and filled the joints in the rough masonry. For the sgraffito, a base coat used a carbon pigment mixed with slaked lime and sand, which coloured the plaster a silvery black. The finish layer to contrast with the black was a white lime wash made from a white pulverised travertine, usually mixed with sand. The decorative patterns and designs were incised by cutting away this finish or top layer, whilst still soft, to reveal the darker layer beneath. The design was thus in two colours, black where the surface was incised and white where it was left alone. Decoration was often executed in negative, with the background being removed around the pattern, which then appeared as white on a dark background. Only sections of the wall that could be completed in a day could be worked on at one time. Although this decorative technique has continued to remained popular and in use throughout Europe, especially in Bohemia and the Czech Republic, it never really caught on in England until the mid-19th century. It was thanks to Sir Henry Cole, the first great Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, who reintroduced it to London. He had seen examples on trips to Italy in Florence, Rome and Germany. His enthusiasm and support were to lead to the revival of this art at the South Kensington museum (now V&A). Royol College of Organists, Kensington. Cole persuaded the artist Francis Moody to experiment with different materials and mixes in order to decorate the east wall of the Science school (now the Henry Cole Wing). The building stands on Exhibition Road, but Moody's elevation is hidden from public view. Moody, along with four of his students from the National Art Training School, boldly covered the whole of the wall with Renaissance type decorative motifs, using a variety of mixes, in order to test their durability and colourfastness. This sgraffito remains today, though sadly covered in layers of London pollution and dirt. The successful outcome of this enterprise led to the sgraffito artists using their skills on several other buildings in and around London. In particular the architects Penrose, Cockerell and Jackson employed the technique on various exterior and internal walls of churches, schools and houses. One building in particular, the Royal College of Organists, today glows with the Context59 September1998 1 J '1
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=