التصوير بطريقة الأفرسكو (الألوان الجيرية) ١_a ، كتاب تكنولوجيا التصوير د.م محمد حماد

- Photography in the fresco method (lime colors)

Affresco The origin of the name “Afresco” is taken from the Italian language and means fresh, because the painting is drawn on the wall when its whiteness is fresh and has not dried. Hence the name came according to the method used in photography. In the painting of the fresco, lime (calcium hydroxide) is the mediator in the manufacture of color, and it is the basic material of which the ground of the painting is prepared from fresh lime mortar that has not yet dried. Painting on it must begin before it dries, or when it begins to dry, until it absorbs the color and enters the thickness of the lime mortar, thus ensuring that it lasts for a longer period.

Alfresco and date:

And that this type of photography differs from the type of photography that was known in ancient Egypt, which was called “the Egyptian fresco” (Fig. 26). It was painted on walls made of brown bricks covered with a layer of mortar consisting of clay and gypsum, and it might be mixed with figs, flax sack, or straw (a natural mixture of fine particles).

(Fig. 26) An Egyptian wall painting representing a party in which guests listen to the harp player
As for the reason for calling the Egyptian wall paintings the Egyptian fresco, this is because many of these Egyptian wall paintings that were depicted on the walls of tombs and temples were similar to the painting called affresco, similar in effect to the Egyptian wall paintings. It was familiar in some Greek and Roman countries, as we can see in the palace of the city of Knossos on the island of Crete, and in Tyrenz opposite the island of Crete, which is located in Greece. Likewise, in the cities of Herculean, Lanim, and Pompeii, Italy (and they were buried under the ground as a result of the impact of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD) and in many wall paintings in the Middle Ages in Italy.. Therefore, the Egyptian wall paintings were called “Egyptian frescoes,” to distinguish them from the Western frescoes, due to the difference in the two styles. However, our colleague, Professor Youssef Tabo Zadeh, indicated in an article he had - published in Al-Amarah Magazine 7-8 in 1939 - that some of the Egyptian paintings were executed on the mortar while it was still soft, which confirms to us that naming the Egyptian paintings with Afrosk is a correct name that depends on the method of work. The beginning of this type of painting was in a fresco in Egypt, then it was transferred to Western civilizations through the Greeks and Romans.It is likely that this saying was mentioned by the archaeologist Petri about the pictorial floor covering that he discovered in Amarna and is now preserved in the Egyptian Museum, when he said (The colors in this painting It was placed on the whiteness of the gesso while it was still wet.. but when it was still possible to move it with a brush..» and this indicates that the method that Al-Masry followed in the famous Amarna floor drawings was of the fresco style .. as it also clarifies As the ancient Egyptian understood the basic theory of fresco painting, which is that the fresh mortar used in the whiteness of the bearing wall absorbs the colors to enter into the depth if it is placed on the white while it is still soft or fresh... which makes it more resistant to various weather factors and more durable.

It was made of clay and limestone, and in some cases it was covered with a layer of gypsum as a surface for painting with watercolors. It was known since the beginning of the dynasties and continued throughout the historical eras, and we see examples of it in the ruins of the palace of Amenophis III, south of the temple of Habu 50. However, we see pictures painted directly on clay whiteness in the small dwellings and in the palaces in Amarna, that is, during the reign of Amenophis IV (Akhenaten).

The art of the Afrosque has remained since the era of Akhenaten until the Christian era in Egypt, and Christian drawings appeared in the Afrosque manner in many temples such as the Karnak Temple and the Luxor Temple.. as well as in many of the temples of Nubia, such as the Seboua Temple of Ramses II and the Abu Odeh Temple of Ahwar Moheb. This was after the temples turned into churches in the Coptic era, and most of these drawings date back to the third and fourth centuries. They were painted with lime colors on a layer of gypsum that covered the old excavations that covered the walls

Prof. Dr. Sami Jabreh wrote in his book The Excavations of the University in Tuna El-Gebel, which he was supervising, and mentioned in it some of the Afrosque paintings that represent some Hellenistic myths in the cemetery of Tuziwis and others, including the story of Oedipus the King.
And the story of the Trojan horse, and the story of Aga Memnon, Electra crying over her father's grave, and another Avsk that represents the myth of kidnapping Pluton (Mads, the god of the underworld), Persimmon, the daughter of Dimitra (the plant goddess).

But the question that we have to ask here is, was Akhenaten's floor the first work in the ancient Egyptian drawings in which he followed the Afrosque style? Or are there attempts that the ancient Egyptian artist knew before that.. If history proves that there were attempts and experiments that worked before the era of Akhenaten and led to the discovery of the fresco style, then this would have been a clear definition of the path that this method took until it led to the beginning of the right path in the era of Akhenaten. But if we do not find the previous attempts, then it is enough for us what history has achieved from the beginning of the establishment of this art since the era of Akhenaten at least, and then this art moved, as Professor Tubuzadeh says - from Egypt to Chaldea, Babylonia and Crete .. and from there to Greece and then the Romans, where it began to develop in a manner consistent with The nature of the Romans, their customs, traditions and tendencies, and the Romans recorded in the Palatino the popular life and related social, literary and religious activities in wonderful pictures. And when the city of Bombay was discovered, he found in it all the monuments that bore the wonderful fresco inscriptions of fresh colors, and from the year 100 to the year 500 AD, which is the period that they call the era of ancient Christianity and it is said in Italian Paleocristiano, Christianity had settled its feet in Italy, Greece and the countries located on the sea basin The Mediterranean .. But it was not stability in the understood sense, because those nations had not enjoyed the teachings of the new religion, and that was a reason to fight it and persecute its supporters at the beginning, which forced the priest and monks to take shelters from the land in which to perform their religious rituals away from the sight of their enemies. Naturally, these caches should be decorated and their decorations should be related to the principles preached by Christianity, because photography in the Middle Ages was a tool of religious propaganda. Therefore, this era is considered the beginning of the rise of frescoes in those countries. Among the famous places where we see frescoes at the beginning of the Christian era are the catacombs of Pietro and Marcellino for the burial of the dead in Rome, Italy, the tombs of Callisto, the tombs of Domitilla, and the tombs of Priscilla in Rome. We see the same phenomenon clearly in Egypt, as in the early Christian eras, the Copts resorted to some places such as the ancient Egyptian temples, which they turned into places of worship before building churches, as well as some tombs in which they worshiped and covered their walls with a layer of mortar that concealed the ancient scenes, and painted scenes on them in a manner Alfresco represents the different Christian religious scenes. Roma. Catacombe dei St. Pietro e Marcellino Priscilla

In the year 600 AD, Christianity had prevailed all over the world and its teachings had spread among the nations, which had a positive impact on the development of Alfresco, as men