fresco
Americannoun
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frescoes,
plural
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frescos
plural
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Also called buon fresco, true fresco. the art or technique of painting on a moist, plaster surface with colors ground up in water or a limewater mixture.
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a picture or design so painted.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a very durable method of wall-painting using watercolours on wet plaster or, less properly, dry plaster ( fresco secco ), with a less durable result
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a painting done in this way
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fresco
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Italian: “cool, fresh,” of Germanic origin; see fresh
Explanation
Whether you've studied art history or not, you're probably familiar with the world's most famous fresco: Michelangelo's paintings on the walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. To paint a fresco, you must apply paint to freshly applied plaster that is still wet, and you better get it right the first time. Too slow and the plaster hardens, and then you've got a lot of chipping away to do. Fresco comes from the Italian fresco, meaning "cool" or "fresh," which describes exactly the fast, unlabored technique required of fresco painting.
Vocabulary lists containing fresco
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Just about every available surface of the room is painted, combining the techniques of wet-plaster fresco with a dry-plaster secco.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The extraordinary sanctuary offers a “fully private backyard paradise,” the listing states, complete with an al fresco kitchen, fire pit, and tranquil koi pond.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Renata Pintus, who heads the masonry department at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence's famous restoration workshop, told AFP it had been a "privilege" to work on Giotto's famous fresco cycle.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
During warmer months, the patio offers an excellent spot for al fresco dining.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
It took a moment before I realized that it was a leafy replica of Michelangelo’s fresco of Adam from the Sistine Chapel.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
We would be sipping ice-cold spritzes at cafés overlooking the Mediterranean, frolicking down cobblestone streets lined with charming boutiques, and marveling at the frescoes and marble sculptures adorning grand cathedrals.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Once virtually lost to memory after being painted over with whitewash, the frescoes began to be uncovered in the mid-19th century -- but the work left scratches and pockets of white on the frescoed walls.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Shockwaves from a March 9 airstrike also damaged tiles and cracked frescoes at the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Even the prosecutor touring a buried villa that’s become a crime scene, illegally stripped of its frescoes, bemoans what’s been lost when thieves rob a people of their ancestors’ memories.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
The walls had once been brightly painted, but most of the frescoes had peeled or faded.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
Walk through the Convent of San Marco in Florence, and you’ll see Crucifixion after Crucifixion in frescos by the 15th-century painter Fra Angelico.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
The frescos on the ceiling, the intricate wooden and stone carvings that punctuate the space, they’re all in perfect condition.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
Inside the breathtaking Art Deco interiors of the Palais de la Porte Doree, Issey Miyake ’s guests admired wall-to-wall frescos and bas-reliefs of exotic scenes lit up in dappled lighting.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
Discoveries so far include golden tiles, jade sculptures, mosaics and frescos, weapons, and remains of three mammoths.
From Reuters ● Aug. 3, 2023
Over the door on the right, is the name of Peter Cornelius, the painter, by whom the frescos were designed and chiefly executed.
From Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad with Tales and Miscellanies Now First Collected Vol. I (of 3) by Mrs. (Anna) Jameson
Once virtually lost to memory after being painted over with whitewash, the frescoes began to be uncovered in the mid-19th century -- but the work left scratches and pockets of white on the frescoed walls.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
The New York County Courthouse's Roman façade and frescoed interiors have played backdrop to many iconic movies and television shows - perhaps, most famously, Goodfellas.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2023
"Not everyone in the Sistine Chapel. Please! We are much more," she told Reuters at the opening of an exhibition of ceramics within metres of Michelangelo's frescoed masterpiece.
From Reuters ● May 30, 2023
On Tuesday, the two autocratic presidents will dine at a state banquet in a richly frescoed hall used by a long line of Russian czars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
They kneeled between the frescoed walls, where some important-looking saints with blue haloes were standing on tiptoe to avoid foreshortening, and the gay paints of the stained-glass window poured upon their heads.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
The medium made famous by Michelangelo, da Vinci and Fra Angelico, frescoing is a delicate process that entails crushing pigments and painting them into wet plaster before it dries.
From Washington Post ● May 6, 2021
Near the end of his torturous years of frescoing, Michelangelo was painting right over the elevated area where the pope would sit on his gilded throne.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 5, 2012
The walls were lined with marble slabs, or frescoed, while the ceilings were either bare, exposing the beams, or, in the finer houses, covered with ivory, gold, and frescoing.
From Ancient Rome : from the earliest times down to 476 A. D. by Robert Franklin Pennell
Painting and frescoing were well established in principle, though not carried to a high state until the mediaeval period; but in sculpture nothing yet has exceeded the perfection of the Greek art.
From History of Human Society by Frank W. (Frank Wilson) Blackmar
What with sculpturing and frescoing, they had made that most fantastic wilderness the Painted Desert.
From Overland by J. W. (John William) De Forest
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