The fresco - a painting on fresh plaster - is a technique of wall
painting used since antiquity. Frescoes serve a wide variety of
purposes: In churches as a Bible in pictures and for the representation
of the life of saints or the truths of faith; in town halls they depict
the ideals of a city government, in castles and palaces the appreciation
of art and the sovereign virtues of the sponsors. This volume is devoted
to frescoes and other impressive wall and ceiling paintings from the
Romanesque period to the 19th century.