The artists pins up a drawing and uses a sharp point to mark the lines of the drawing onto the plaster. He/she then paints the outlines of the picture onto the plaster. "Accuracy" is very important; the artist must get it right in one go.
As the painting dries, the artist works over the whole "giornata" again, putting in details of the faces and the clothing, and painting shadows.
At the beginning of the next day's work, the plaster edge of the last "giornata" is scraped so that the new plaster joins well. Often it is possible to see the joins and work out how many "giornata" it took to do a single painting.
Not all wall paintings are frescoes. In Ancient Egypt, for example, many of the wall paintings were done on dry plaster and are not true frescoes.
The Royal Palace at Knossos in Crete, c. 1500 BC, had many frescoes. The scene of athletes dancing with a bull is the most famous.
Many Ancient Roman wall paintings can be seen at Pompeii from the 1st century AD, but these are not true frescoes.
The Sigiriya Frescoes painted in Sigiriya in Sri Lanka around 485 AD use the "fresco lustro" technique which varies slightly from the pure fresco technique in that it also contains a mild binding agent. This gives the frescoes added durability as they have survived exposed for nearly 1500 years.
There are many frescoes dating from the late Middle Ages, about 1000-1400 AD when, it was the fashion to paint the inside of churches with people and stories from the Bible. The order of the pictures was carefully planned by the artists and priests. Above the altar is usually seen a picture of Jesus Christ. On the west wall is often a frightening picture of The Last Judgement to remind people to turn to Jesus. Many frescoes like this can be seen in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Serbia, Armenia, Romania and Russia. There are a few in Germany, France and Italy.
In Italy, around 1300 AD, the artist Giotto painted frescoes that were so full of life that people were amazed. Each picture was like looking onto a stage where real people told the story. This was the beginning of the period of art history called the Renaissance. Giotto's frescoes became so famous that he had many pupils and followers. Giotto's most famous frescoes are in the Arena Chapel in Padua. He also painted in the Church of St. Francis at Assisi and at Santa Croce (Church of the Holy Cross) in Florence.
A hundred years later, about 1400 AD, two artists called Masolino and Masaccio worked in the city of Florence, painting a chapel. Their names translate as "Little Tom" and "Fat Tom". Masaccio's way of painting was the biggest change since Giotto, in particular the two weeping naked figures of Adam and Eve. Everyone thought that Masaccio was one of the greatest painters alive. But he died at only 27 years old. These frescoes are in the Church of the Carmine, in Florence.
In the 1400s many other artists in Italy were given the job of painting churches or chapels. They were paid by "patrons", rich people who could afford an artist. The most important patron was the Pope. Pope Sixtus IV had built a new chapel in the Vatican in Rome. In 1481, he got some of the best artists in Italy to decorate the walls for him. See Sistine Chapel.
In 1508 the work continued in the Sistine Chapel when Pope Julius II made the great artist Michelangelo go to Rome to paint the ceiling. It took him four years, and he became sick from the strain and the smell. But when he had finished, he had painted one of the greatest artworks in the world. Then, 1537-1541, he painted the west wall of the same chapel with The Last Judgement
For the next 200 years, painted ceilings were in fashion. But artists soon discovered that it was easier to paint in oil on canvas and put it up on the ceiling than to paint on the ceiling in fresco. The fashion for fresco painting began to fade.
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. The story is about revenge and forgiveness. The main character of the book, Edmond Dantès, is wrongly sent to prison. There, he meets an old priest named Faria, who tells Dantès of a treasure. He escapes and finds the large treasure. He uses it to carry out a plan of revenge on the three people who sent him to prison. The novel was well received by critics and readers. It has been adapted to many stage plays and movies.
The novel was first published in the "Journal des Débats" in 18 parts from August 28, 1844 to January 15, 1846. It was first published in Paris by Pétion in 18 volumes (1844-5). It was published in English in 1846 by Chapman and Hall. It has been translated many times since 1846, and into many languages. Dumas wrote a set of three plays that told the story of "The Count of Monte Cristo": "Monte Cristo" (1848), "Le Counte de Morcerf" (1851), and "Villefort" (1851). The book inspired the plot for other novels, including Lew Wallace's "" (1880).
Hallandale Beach, Florida
Hallandale Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is named after Luther Halland, a worker for Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad. The population was 37,282 at the 2000 census. Sometimes the city is called the "southernmost Canadian city". This is because Hallandale Beach has been a popular vacation spot for years, and most of the tourists come from Quebec and the northeast United States. Many of these tourists eventually moved to the area to live there.
Nazi Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party ("Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei", abbreviated NSDAP), also known as the Nazi Party, was a German political party. It was started in 1920 from the "Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" (German Workers' party) (DAP), which would later be renamed the NSDAP. On the day it was created, the party published its 25-point manifesto (book of ideas). The items in this list of ideas included getting rid of the Treaty of Versailles; gaining more land for the German people; taking away any income people had not earned by working; taking away Jewish people's citizenship; changing the education system; and setting up a strong central government. It is most known for being Hitler's political party.
Until 1923, the NSDAP was most popular in Bavaria.
In 1919, Adolf Hitler joined the German Workers Party. In 1920 the party changed its name, and Hitler took control in 1921.
In 1923, the Nazi Party tried to start a coup d'état in Munich to take over Germany, but failed. This battle was called the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for treason. However, he was let out of prison after nine months. Other people who participated in the Beer Hall Putsch were given the death penalty or 5-6 years imprisoned. The government also made the NSDAP illegal in Germany.
While he was in prison, Adolf Hitler wrote most of "Mein Kampf" ('My Struggle'). In this book, he wrote down his political ideas and his future plans for Germany.
In 1924, Hitler was let out of prison early. He restarted the NSDAP. He wanted to gain power legally, through elections. At this time, the NSDAP was only one of a few extreme right-wing, nationalist political parties in Germany. There were many other parties with similar ideas then. Important people like Fritz Thyssen and Emil Kirdorf, both leaders of big industries, supported the Nazi Party.
The next elections to the Reichstag were held in 1928. In these elections, the Nazi Party won 2.6% of the vote. The party decided to decrease its anti-Semitic slogans in order to do better in the next election. Instead, the NSDAP focused more on foreign policy and on terrorising the German people. In local elections in 1929 and 1930, the NSDAP won about 10% of the vote.
In 1930, President Paul von Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag. The Nazi Party saw this as an opportunity. In the elections on 14 September, 1930, the NSDAP won 18.3% of the vote, and had become the second biggest party in Germany.