Encyclopedia > Gesso

  Article Content

Gesso

Gesso is a glue-like paint, most often white, used a base or undercoat[?] when preparing a canvas for painting.

Some types of gesso are extremely odoriferous. The gesso seals the pores in the canvas and provides a relatively smooth uniformly coloured surface for the artist to work on. Pre-gessoed canvases can be obtained commercially.

Gesso is also used by sculptors, to prepare the shape of the final sculpture (fused bronze) or directly as a material for sculpting.

"Gesso" is the Italian word for "chalk" (akin to the English word "gypsum"). A collection of gesso sculptures is properly called a gypsoteque[?].



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Wheatley Heights, New York

... 30.3% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. Fo ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 21.5 ms