| Description: | During the three weeks in Florence students will learn the ancient technique of fresco by using original techniques from the mixing of fresco mortar (intonaco), its application on support, and the use of pigments for painting fresco. Each student will make a sinopia (preliminary painting for fresco), and complete a small fresco on a terracotta support using the student's choice of subject matter. The course will also discuss the detachment of the student's own fresco from its support. This is a method used in wall painting conservation, and will give the student an opportunity to learn the techniques of fresco restoration using their own fresco. The course will also briefly survey the ancient techniques used for making oil and tempera paintings. The students will learn to recognize the century in which the paintings were created. The students will be working with original paintings from the 16th - 17th century and they will learn how to use all modern painting restoration techniques to bring the antique paintings back to their original states. Scheduled museum visits will help explain the techniques they use in class. During the field workshop week students will work in the main church of the town of Rocca Imperiale near Cosenza in Calabria, southern Italy. Rocca Imperiale is located in the Taranto Gulf on a hill 4 km from the sea. It is a very important archaeological area since there was an important Greek settlement because of its fertile earth and strategic position. The most important artifact of Rocca Imperiale is the famous medieval fortress. The workshop will focus on restoring authentic polychrome wooden sculptures and mural paintings. The students will learn how to acquire confidence and practical knowledge in elaborating authentic and antique works of art, adding a more realistic approach to restoration and conservation. As a first step, a complete study of the art work will be carried out in order to understand dates and conservation conditions. Then the students will concentrate on cleaning the art work and consolidate it with the proper materials. For the next step, the students will learn to use different products for the restoration of the surface layers. As the last step students will also work on the pictorial layer and, if necessary, will do some painting with appropriate colors. |