Pompeian Frescos

A huge repertoire of design forms can be found in the “four styles” of Pompeian mural painting. Those styles show a huge bout of development between 200 BC. to 79 AD : seemingly archaic forms of decoration up to imaginative, madly exaggerated perspectives. Even today we are in awe of the precise naturalism of Pompeian art, its love for theatrical orchestration, the mix of real and mythological-dreamlike scenes, and especially geometrical perspectives one and a half thousand years before their rediscovery during the Renaissance period.

The fascination that can be found in this extraordinary themes in connection with the morbid fresco-charme of patinated, half derelict walls, is the reason why Pompeian mural painting finds itself imitated again and again. Thats how we bring Pompeian themes to life in wellness areas as well as kitchens, living rooms and stairwells.
The Garden painting of the “Third Style” is very well suited for “Frescopaintings” : Painted onto antiquely structured base layers, pulled onto on especially thick stretcher frames, they seem like real antique layers of plaster.

What is a Fresco?

“Fresco” (italian) means “fresh”. A fresco is a mural painting painted with colour pigments, which are water soluble, mixed with lime plaster. During the setting process of the plaster the pigments carbonate with the surface, to the effect that the paint layer can’t be separated from the plaster anymore - except if a conservator takes the whole fresco off the wall in an elaborate process.
Painting a fresco is a very demanding craftsmanship and the whole process, from plastering the wall in several layers up to painting the fresco, has to be carried out on site.
Colloquially mural paintings are described as “frescos” especially when they look antique. Contrary to Pompeian frescos, which were actually made with the “Fresco-technique”, we paint our frescos with modern materials using the “seco”-technique. (Derived from seco=dry). That means, we work on dry, set surfaces and use a paint with a binding agent.