Sgraffito

Sgraffito, or SCRATCHED WORK, is the name given to a mode of external wall-decoration practised in Italy, and of which examples have been found in Pozzuoli near Naples, of the date of about 200 B.C. The process is accomplished by means of superimposed layers of plaster applied and operated upon in the following manner. First, the wall having been thoroughly moistened to ensure adhesion, a $\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$-inch coat of plaster is floated on, and before it is perfectly dry a $\backslash frac\{1\}\{4\}$-inch skin of black, red, or any other coloured plaster that will not fade is applied; when this is set and while it is still wet, a finishing coat of white plaster is added. A full-sized drawing of the design that is to be realised is then transferred to this outer coating, and the outline cut through to the second coat with a sharp instrument, and made broad or narrow according to the effect desired, and where necessary these incisions are enforced by additional lines as shading. The process is an economical mode of obtaining effect, but like 'fresco' requires to be executed while the material is moist, and therefore no more should be prepared than can be immediately operated upon. Examples of the system are to be found in the choir boys' school of St Paul's Cathedral, the inner court of the Science Schools at South Kensington, some private residences, and the interiors of some churches in England. The application of this principle of decoration is not confined to plaster, but extends also to superimposed metals and to pottery. There are 15th-century specimens of sgraffito pottery in the South Kensington Museum. The examples of house-decoration in Italy are of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.