Hi everyone,

Just wanted to hear some opinions and advice out there about testing to see how colour changes in a buon fresco.

Obviiously, when painting in buon fresco, you have the opportunity to paint wet; knowing the colour will dry much lighter when the plaster is dry. But what about the cabonization process over time? What does that do to the colours used in the fresco?

It is my understanding that the colours get richer with age, but I have heard conflicting opinions on this. Has anyone done testing in this area? I would reaaly appreciate some comments from those who have had experience in this.

Thanks
Ciao
Carter Averbeck
Http://www.TrompeArt.com

usable mineral colors do get ligther when painting al fresco, between 20% or 30% ligther during the following six months, due to the corrosive nature of lime, after that period, the pigments will remain very stable.
there are frescoes that are 3000 thousand years old!!
due to the live nature of true fresco many factors can also affect the result, mostly modern contamination (carbon monoxide is a killer), proper wall preparation (salts are a public enemy of fresco) and proper painting...
in general, even if fresco painting is very rare nowadays, we do now quite a bit about the things that work and the things that dont..

u hit the nail on the head

the colours will remain as they are ,after the fresco has completly dried.they will not become richer

See the restored Sistine Ceiling - colors, brilliant after removing soot and glues. Can't have faded much since easily assessed choices such as the sky colors look authentic and fresh today.

Once I found this old recipe to test the colour change - "put some colour on the block of raw umber, it will absorb water from it before your yes..." I could never find a block of raw umber, so could not try this test to see how it works...