noun, plural fres·coes, fres·cos.
- 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.Compare fresco secco.
- a picture or design so painted.
verb (used with object), fres·coed, fres·co·ing.
- to paint in fresco.
noun plural -coes or -cos
- a very durable method of wall-painting using watercolours on wet plaster or, less properly, dry plaster (fresco secco), with a less durable result
- a painting done in this way
1590s, in fresco, literally “in fresh,” with a sense of “painted on fresh mortar or plaster,” from Italian fresco “cool, fresh,” from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (see fresh (adj.1)).
A painting on wet plaster. When the plaster dries, the painting is bonded to the wall. Fresco was a popular method for painting large murals during the Renaissance. The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, is a fresco, as are the paintings by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.