Sgraffito is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive layers of contrasting slip or glaze, and then in either case scratching so as to reveal parts of the underlying layer. The Italian past participle “sgraffiato” is also used, especially of pottery.
The term sgraffito is a decoration technique for processing wall surfaces. After applying different colored plaster layers, parts of the upper plaster layer are scraped off and parts of the underlying plaster layer are exposed, so that an image is created by the color contrast. The technique was used especially in Italy and Bohemia in the 16th century, but is still used today. Sgraffito is counted among the stucco techniques. Likewise, certain “scratching techniques” for other types of color application are referred to as sgraffito (eg in watercolor painting).
The sgraffito technique played a major role for decades during the Renaissance in Italy. In the 16th century it was brought to Germany and Austria by the Renaissance master builders and was received with enthusiasm by the creative craftsmen. The plastering technique was also used in Thuringia, Saxony as well as in Vierlanden, in Austria and in Transylvania. But above all, it is common in Bavaria, z. B. in the courtyard of the city palace in Neuburg on the Danube. In the canton of Graubünden, especially in the Engadin and the southern valleys, the sgraffito is a very common element in both historic and modern buildings and is considered part of the building culture.
The technique involves adorning a mortar coating with an engraved design. The mortar can be colored in the mass and even laid in successive layers of different colors. In this case, after drawing the contours of the drawing, each color is shown in its place by scratching the useless layers. This technique is also similar to that of the cameo.
Prevailing are native motifs. Furthermore, sgraffiti are used for the design of house facades for advertising purposes. In combination with ornamental jewelry, this design technique meant an alternative to the usual wall painting.
Sgraffito on walls has been used in Europe since classical times, it was popularized in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries and can be found in African art. In combination with ornamental decoration these techniques formed an alternative to the prevailing painting of walls. Of late there has been an unmistakable growing interest in this old technique. The technical procedure is relatively simple, and the procedures are similar to the painting of frescoes.
Sgraffito played a significant role during the years of the Renaissance in Italy, with two of Raphael’s workshop, Polidoro da Caravaggio and his partner Maturino da Firenze, among the leading specialists, painting palace facades in Rome and other cities. Most of their work has now weathered away. During the 16th century, the technique was brought to Germany by the master builders of the Renaissance and taken up with enthusiasm. As a simple native art, old examples of sgraffito can be found in the wide surroundings of Wetterau and Marburg. In Germany, the technique is most predominant in Bavaria. The use of sgraffito was common in the creation of housing façades for the purposes of advertising. The technique was also used in Thuringia, the Engadin, Austria and Transylvania.
In Catalonia, sgraffito was implemented in the early 20th century by the Noucentista neo-classical architects and became a recurrent technique in façade decoration.
Another use of sgraffito is seen in its simplified painting technique. One coat of paint is left to dry on a canvas or sheet of paper. Another coat of a different color is painted on top of the first layer. The artist then uses a palette knife or oil stick to scratch out a design, leaving behind an image in the color of the first coat of paint. This can also be achieved by using oil pastels for the first layer and black ink for the top layer. Sometimes a first coat of paint is not needed, and the wet coat scraped back reveals the canvas. This cannot be achieved by using the oil pastel method. This technique is often used in art classes to teach the sgraffito technique to novice art students.
The manual process is simple but time-critical. The preconditions are the same as in the fresco painting: a coarse, thin liquid Spritzbewurf a not too strong balancing layer of limestone and sharp sand 1: 3 fired and withdrawn only with the level. About this, not more than 0.5 cm, a mortar layer of the same or only slightly lime-rich mixing ratio, which is through-dyed with a light and Kalkechten pigment.
This layer is followed by another, in which most of the natural mortar color is left, which is different only by the color of the sand. In their place may also be a simple Kalktünche occur, which is spread with a broad brush in two to three layers and optionally felted or pulled clean with a smoothing disk. The craftsman scratches, cuts or scrapes in the fresh, soft plaster lines and surfaces, so that the colored layer is just visible. The purpose is to use various shaped loops and forged scraper irons. The problem for the craftsman is that the work must be done before the upper layers of plaster have set, which limits the size of the area worked in one go.
With multicolored sgraffito the technique is difficult, because the image construction must be reversed: First the details are put on, the outlines become visible only at the end. Therefore, an extensive planning in advance is required to create. The technique is popular because of its long durability even under adverse weather conditions.
Recently, there is an unmistakably increased interest in this ancient technique, since it can be used very well as an artistic means of expression in its various embodiments.
A technique similar to the sgraffito is the Hessian scratch plaster, widely used in Hesse and the surrounding area, where scratching is also done on a layer of plaster, but there are some differences.
Art Nouveau:
Examples of graphic work on facades saw a resurgence circa 1890 through 1915, in the context of the rise of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Vienna Secession, and particularly the Art Nouveau movement in Belgium and France.
The English artist Heywood Sumner has been identified as this era’s pioneer of the technique, for example his work at the 1892 St Mary’s Church, Sunbury, Surrey. Sumner’s work is sgraffito per se, scratched plaster, but the term has come to encompass a variety of techniques for producing exterior graphic decoration.
Other examples include:
ceramic panels on the Grande Maison de Blanc, Brussels, architect Oscar François, artist Henri Privat-Livemont, 1896–1897
the Hôtel Ciamberlani, Brussels, architect Paul Hankar, 1897
Princess of Dreams tile tympanum and other work, Hotel Metropol, Moscow, architect William Walcot, artist Mikhail Vrubel, 1899–1907
the Cauchie house, Brussels, architect Paul Cauchie, 1905
ceramic Homage to Prague tympanum of the Municipal House in Prague, architect Osvald Polívka, artist Karel Špillar, 1905–1912
You can see graffiti in many cities especially in the center of Europe, including Prague, Brussels, Antwerp, Charleroi, Namur, Liège, Huy, Tournai, but also Pisa, Barcelona …