Petrarch 1450

Andrea del Castagno painted this fresco of Petrarch in Florence, likely in the 1450s. Fresco is an interesting technique, because it involves painting directly onto wet plaster. The artist had to work quickly, applying pigment before the plaster dried. It’s a laborious process of preparing the wall, applying the plaster in sections, and painting each section in a single session. You can almost feel the artist’s urgency in the work, and see the marks of the process on the wall. The image of Petrarch is strong because the directness of fresco lends itself to a monumental style. The simple, durable materials give the image an earthy quality. It is a celebration of both artistic labor and of intellectual achievement, fitting for a portrait of a scholar. Thinking about the making, and the material, helps us to understand how artists, even in the Renaissance, were concerned with the here and now, and the physical world of the studio.