I have already told you about the frescoes and mosaics, haven’t I? Yes, the ones that astonish me when I deliver bread to the most beautiful houses.
I don’t understand much about mosaics, I must admit. But I do know how to paint a fresco, because my friend Lucilius is an apprentice in an art workshop.
First, the team erects a scaffolding, because you always start painting from above. They smear the wall with wet plaster, so the colour sets well and doesn’t crumble when it dries. This is when you have to paint quickly, before the plaster dries.
There is no time for mistakes or distractions, says Lucilius. One trick used by painters is to make a preparatory sketch: you sketch the design on the wall in broad strokes and then paint over it. But the finishing touches are less urgent. They can easily be added when the wall is dry by mixing the paint with a glue, like eggs!
You should see how much stuff painters carry around with them: compasses, jars full of plaster, lots of jars of paint and bowls for mixing!
The basic colours are red, yellow, blue, white, black, green and orange. But the choice doesn’t always depend on the host’s taste: as usual, it is all about money and prestige. Even among paints, there are rich and poor ones…
For example, ‘Egyptian blue’ is expensive, because it’s complicated to make, you have to melt copper, sand and calcium carbonate. And ‘cinnabar red’, which comes from Spanish mines, is twice as expensive!
Anyway, can I tell you a secret? When I enter those houses, my head spins. The colours come at you from the walls, from the ceiling… they attack you on all sides!
OK, our cities are all colourful: the columns, the statues, the temples, the shops, even the outside walls of the houses… But at least we are in the open air, under the sky.
Inside those houses, on the other hand, there is just no rest for the eyes!