gesso

views updated May 11 2018

gesso. Plaster of Paris, or gypsum, mixed with glue and whiting (ground chalk) used to prepare a flat surface for painting, or to raise parts of the surface to enhance enrichment of a painting, as in the exquisite late-medieval panels of the chancel-screen in St Edmund's Church, Southwold, Suffolk. Gesso duro is of superior quality, used for making bas-reliefs which are then painted to resemble terracotta or faïence.

Bibliography

Nicholson (1835)

More From encyclopedia.com