Given that interior design trends often tend to move between one of two extremes, the most recent revival of Venetian polished plaster is a refreshing celebration of a timeless look that provides homeowners with more options.
It is somewhat rare to find designs that are timeless in interior design the way the little black dress is for fashion, but a Venetian plaster wall is at once industrial and natural, minimalist and yet exuding ornate luxurious details.
Whilst there are a lot of different forms and a level of versatility you do not get with other forms of wall design or wall covering, Venetian plaster, in general, tends to adapt very well to changing trends, which in some respects is particularly useful given its hardwearing nature.
However, the path it took to timelessness was far from easy and involved the hard work of generations of artisan architects with a passion for classical design and traditional materials.
Rise Of The Stuccatori
Whilst the process of making polished plaster was first written down by the architect and writer Vitruvius in De Architectura, it was one of many construction and artistic techniques that was lost with the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe.
Following this, it was nearly completely wiped out by the Fall of Constantinople and the last remnants of the Empire in the east as well, A few centuries later, however, interest in classical works as part of the Renaissance and the wider availability of them thanks to the printing press led to a revival in literal lost arts.
This transitioned to architecture and specifically the revival of what Vitruvius had dubbed “Marmoratum Opus” through the humanist scholar Gian Giorgio Trissino.
Whilst Mr Trissino was primarily known as a writer, poet and philosopher, one of his biggest influences on the world of architecture occurred largely by chance when he put plans into motion to rebuild his home, the Villa Trissino in Cricoli, with inspiration taken from the Roman architecture he loved so much.
To this end, he hired a number of stonemasons, one of which was a 30-year-old named Andrea di Pietro della Gondola.
So the story goes, Mr Trissino saw potential where few others did and took him under his wing to teach him about Roman architecture, eventually giving him the name Andrea Palladio.
Mr Palladio was inspired by the works of Ancient Rome in the same way Mr Trissino had, and when he became a formal architect in 1540, he would use polished plaster, which he dubbed “Pietra d’Istria” as a major part of his construction techniques, inspired by the techniques committed to print by Vitruvius.
Mr Palladio went on to become one of the greatest and most influential architects of the Renaissance era and eventually a group of skilled artisans, the “stuccatori”, perfected Venetian plaster and made it the signature look of European architecture until the 17th century.
Changing tastes in the Baroque period caused the technique to enter another era of dormancy. However, it would be revived once again in the 1950s by Carlo Scarpa, a Venetian architect who was inspired by both Virtruvius and Mr Palladio’s Four Books On Architecture.
At this point, with better materials available, a greater understanding of both its aesthetic and quality advantages over similar materials and a revival of many similar trends that work with Venetian plaster, it has stuck around ever since.
