Venetian Plaster History

The decorative plasters of Venice can be traced back thousands of years to Mesopotamia, where raw lime and limestone plasters were being used and painted with frescoes. Later in the remains of the Roman villas of Pompei show how the use of these plasters had spread and changed. The Romans knew the benefits of using burnt lime which was than was then slaked (properly mixed with water) and then left to age so as to improve workability. Much of their techniques has been learned from the writings of Marcus Vitruvius in "De Architecture". This15th century document decribes the building and architectural practices of Rome 1BC. Walls were plastered with 3 coats of a sand and lime mixture followed by 3 coat of a fine marble dust and lime mix to make a smooth polished finish. Whilst the plaster was wet, colours were then introduced to provide a strong, easy to clean decorative surface.

It was the rediscovery of these practices that gave way to their widespread use in 15th century Venice. The lagoon area of Venice had an abundance of wealth and a newly found appetite for classical architecture. The transportation of sand around the lagoon was difficult and expensive, there was also an abundance of waste terracotta from the brick and roof tile industries. So plaster renders were made instead with ground terracotta and hydraulic lime to make a highly breathable surface adept to the damp atmosphere of the lagoon area. From the marble quarriesthe was more tailings, this was then ground, combined with lime to create fine plaster finishes or Marmorino. Left white to portray the stone of Istria (modern day Croatia) which was favoured by Venetian builders, or painted with frescoes to mimic more exotic marble. For the sinking city, the weight of the Marmorino was considerably less than the classic Roman style of using slab pieces of stone or marble.

The use of Venetian plaster disappeared late in the 1800's until the architect Carlo Scarpa in the 1950's brought to the attention of the world these most ornate wall coverings. Whilst some plasters are now made with synthetic acrylic resins. Many still hold true to the original recipe of lime and marble powder, with the inclusion of adhesives so as to be used on modern building surfaces such as drywall.