Also 6–7 frisco; pl. frescos, -oes. [ad. It. fresco cool, FRESH.]
† 1. Cool, fresh air; occas. a fresh breeze. In fresco: in the fresh air. Obs. Cf. ALFRESCO.
1619. N. Brent, trans. Sarpi’s The Historie of the Councel of Trent, v. (1629), 410. There being a custome amongst the people of Paris, in the Summers euenings, to goe out of the Suburbes of S. German in great multitudes, to take the fresco.
1630. B. Jonson, New Inn, IV. ii. Come, let us take in Fresco, here, one Quart.
1644. Evelyn, Diary, 4 Nov. Here in sum’er the gentlemen of Rome take the fresco in their coaches and on foote.
1698. J. Fryer, A New Account of East-India and Persia, 12. We had a promising Fresco, but somewhat dulled by too frequent Calms, yet here not so vexatious as before, we going retrograde with the Sun. Ibid., 335. The Houses are so contrived, that in the Summer they are open Banqueting-Houses, refreshed with Fountains as they sit in Frisco.
1740. Gray, Lett., Wks. 1884, II. 82. They work till evening; then take their lute or guitar (for they all play) and walk about the city, or upon the sea-shore with it, to enjoy the fresco.
1785. Sarah Fielding, Ophelia, II. i. I ran through the Door I had opened, and got into the Yard; but was there overtaken by Mrs. Herner, in Fresco as before, with the rest of the Family at her Heels.
attrib. 1742. H. Walpole, Lett., 26 May (1857), I. 167. We have as much waterworks and fresco diversions, as if we lay ten degrees nearer warmth.
† b. ‘It has been sometimes used for any cool refreshing liquor’ (T.). Obs.–0
[1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, 7. They justly believe bark to be very heating, and hence their prejudice against its use in fevers, which they treat with frescos or cooling drinks.]
2. A kind of painting executed in water-color on a wall, ceiling, etc., of which the mortar or plaster is not quite dry, so that the colors sink in and become more durable. Orig. in phrase (to paint) in fresco.
1598. R. H[aydocke], trans. Lomatius’ Artes Paintinge, etc., III. iv. 99. Which wil cause the colours in Frisco to continue as faire as if they were laid while the chalke is fresh.
[1644. Evelyn, Diary, 21 Oct. The houses of this neat town are very uniform, and excellently painted, à fresco on the outer walls, with representations of many of their victories over the Turks.] Ibid., 22 Oct. To this church joins a convent, whose cloister is painted in fresco very rarely.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 147/1. Frescoe, or Wall Painting; some call it seiling.
1749. Stack, in Phil. Trans., XLVI. 14. The Paintings found under-ground in Herculaneum near Portici, are all done in Stucco in Water-colours in Fresco.
1843. Ruskin, Lett., 21 Sept., in Atlantic Monthly (1891), LXVIII. Dec., 740/1. It is not the love of fresco that we want: it is the love of God and his creatures; it is humility, and charity, and self-denial, and fasting, and prayer; it is a total change of character.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Domestic Life, Wks. (Bohn), III. 54. In the Sistine Chapel I see the grand sibyls and prophets, painted in fresco by Michel Angelo.
b. A painting so executed.
1670. Lassels, Voy. Italy, I. 238. On the left hand (within the Church) stands the Library, painted with a rare Fresco, which is yet ravishing and lively after two hundred years.
1717. Pope, Ep. Jervas, 32.
| Here thy well-studied marbles fix our eye; | |
| A fading Fresco here demands a sign. |
1797. Monthly Mag., III. May, 347/1. Added to the beautiful frescoes that decorate the walls, gives a high idea of Roman refinement.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 91. This church is represented in one of the famed frescoes at Wallington Hall: in which Bernard Gilpin is endeavouring to quell a fray threatening to take place in the sacred edifice.
c. attrib. and Comb., as fresco-paint, -painting, -plaster, -wall.
1842–5. Browning, Waring, I. vi.
| We are on the brink | |
| Of something great in *fresco-paint. |
1683. Evelyn, Diary, 16 June, The incomparable *fresco painting in St. George’s Hall, representing the legend of St. George, and triumph of the Black Prince, and his reception by Edward III.
1879. Sir G. G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 213. Let us take advantage of the lessons it affords us in the use of rich materials of mosaic and fresco painting, and in any suggestions it offers for the perfecting of our secular architecture.
1842. Ecclesiologist, II. Oct., 19. We are aware also of the use of *fresco-plaister in very early buildings.
1877. Mar. M. Grant, Sun-Maid, iv. It was a lofty room, with beautiful old *fresco walls and ceiling, of which the rich moldings were picked out in delicate coloring by an Italian artist.
