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Polo Museale Regionale della Lombardia

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THE PLACES OF
THE LAST SUPPER 
IN THE 16th AND 17th CENTURIES

A cycle of frescoes has been discovered in the attic of one of the rooms of the museum

Fresco fragments were found in 2019
on the four walls o
f the attic of one of the museum’s buildings.
They have recently been the subject of preliminary study and restoration.

Research is continuing, but some information has already been collected.

The decoration consists of architectural elements, cornices, scrolls and figures.
Some figures are depicted half length and set in painted round frames; others are represented full length in rectangular frames.
It seems that this was a decorative frieze running around the top of the walls of a large chamber.

The figures represent saints
(St. Cecilia can be identified by the organ)
and busts of other figures holding books.

This chamber is conjectured
to be the remains of the oratory
of the Inquisition,
which was housed in this part
of the convent.

This chamber is conjectured
to be the remains of the oratory
of the Inquisition,
which was housed in this part
of the convent.

The technique of execution involved two layers of plaster:
arriccio the arriccio (the deepest layer) is
on average about 6 mm thick and consists of a mixture of lime rich in sand and other aggregates;
the plaster, the layer on which the fresco was painted,  is very smooth on the surface, it is 5 mm thick on average,
and has fewer aggregates in the mix, so being lighter in colour than the arriccio.

A second coat of plaster, somewhat finer than the first coat, applied over the entire surface and on which the drawing for the fresco is done.

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The plaster was applied in sections matching
the phases of the work, known as “days”.
These are characteristic of fresco technique because,
they allowed the artist to  work on fresh plaster
that was still moist.
Three techniques were
used to transfer the drawing to the wall:
incisions in the fresh plaster, drawing with
the brush using yellow-ochre pigment, and “pouncing”.

The plaster was applied in sections matching
the phases of the work, known as “days”.
These are characteristic of fresco technique because,
they allowed the artist to  work on fresh plaster
that was still moist.
Three techniques were
used to transfer the drawing to the wall:
incisions in the fresh plaster, drawing with
the brush using yellow-ochre pigment, and “pouncing”.

Sidelight brings out incisions in the fresco
Image of the thickness of a detached fragment. From bottom to top: arriccio, plaster, film of pigment
The loss of pigment reveals the black dots of the technique of “pouncing” used to transfer the drawing to the wall

The pigments used in the fresco have not yet been
chemically identified, but it seems to be a palette that is quite
common in fresco painting and not very prestigious
(for example, there are no traces of gold leaf).

 

 

The loss of a piece of painted plaster revealed traces of the drawing made before a coat of plaster was laid over the arriccio layer.

The research will continue and will certainly provide new information to better understand this place,
which has remained unknown and abandoned for more than a century.