The "sgraffito" technique in Florence

Dating back to primitive paintings and already widely used in the Middle Ages, the sgraffito technique was all the rage during the Renaissance, particularly in Florence and Rome, going in parallele with the spread of grottesca decoration.
The name derives from the pointed instrument used for this technique, which was called “sgraffio” (from “graffio”, meaning “scratch” in Italian) and from the method of decoration that creates images by scratching the work surface.
Giorgio Vasari was the first to describe this technique in detail in the second edition of his Lives of 1568, in the Life of Andrea di Cosimo Feltrini (1477-1548), one of the main specialists in the field together with Bernardino Poccetti, the master of grotesques.
Vasari explains how this is a hybrid technique made of both drawing and painting, perfect for decorating the facades of houses and buildings thanks to its speed of execution and its resistance to the elements.

The technique consists of spreading 2 layers of plaster, the first one dark and the second one white. The drawing is transferred onto the second layer using the sgraffito technique: on the surfice is placing a cardboard with the image previously punctured along all its lines with an awl and then it’s dusted with pigment that will then pass through the holes leaving the trace of the drawing on the plaster.
The lines are scratched by removing some parts of the drawing with a sharp instrument so as to bring out the dark plaster underneath and thus create a refined white image on a black background.
Subsequently it is possible to give a finishing touch with watercolor paint to create contrasts and shading.

You only need to walk through the streets of the center of Florence to see one of these elegant buildings, richly decorated with the sgraffito technique, appear from time to time. Some examples that you can go looking for are the Palazzo di Bianca Cappiello and the Palazzo Corsini Suarez in Via Maggio, Palazzo Guicciardini in the street of the same name, Palazzo Ramirez de Montalvo in Borgo Albizi and Palazzo dell’Antella in Piazza Santa Croce.