The beauty of Venetian plaster walls is that they have the practicality of standard plasterwork but the beauty of shimmering polished marble. With the increased respect for natural-looking stonework, polished plaster has become increasingly desired.
Whilst it has seen a relatively recent reemergence into the interior design zeitgeist, plaster is far from a new material. Plaster itself predates civilisation by several thousand years, and even polished plaster was used by Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and potentially even Ancient Egypt.
On a fundamental level, the mix of aggregates, water and a binder (typically lime but cement is also often used) has remained fundamentally the same, with the only changes being slight adjustments to composition, additives and which aggregates are used in its formation.
Venetian plaster and Marmorino used marble specifically to provide a wide range of colours
and a distinct stone effect that not only looks incredibly luxurious but is often water resistant and antimicrobial as well.
However, plasterwork is often confused with stucco, a form of plasterwork wall covering that is as old as plaster and is produced in a very similar way.
What is the difference between the two? The short answer is that the two are both technically almost identical and yet culturally far apart.
For thousands of years, there was literally no difference between plaster, stucco and mortar except for use.
Mortar was used as a binding agent to keep brick and stonework together, creating a weatherproof joint and ensuring the overall load of the structure was distributed as evenly as possible.
Plaster, as is evident in its modern use, was primarily seen as an interior wall covering, as is evident in many of the most beautiful examples of its use both then and now.
It can be created for its own sake as a wall covering or it can be used to produce a smooth, clear surface for painting or adding wallpaper or other coverings onto, although this is a fairly redundant exercise with polished plaster.
Finally, stucco is primarily seen as an external wall cladding material, as it helps to protect the brick and stone from the elements.
The term also became used for the various reliefs, outcroppings and design elements that would be used primarily on the outside of a building, although that would change by the time of its first revival during the Renaissance.
This distinction varied between countries as well, as many Romance language countries such as Italy use the word “stucco” simply to mean plaster, irrespective of how it is used in a building.
By the 19th century, the differences did become more than mere nomenclature, however. Lime plaster was replaced by gypsum for the types of decorative reliefs that were seen as emblematic of classical architecture.
Meanwhile, external stucco started to use Portland cement at increasing rates to try and increase its durability, with fibres often added to further boost its structural qualities.
In practice, however, both polished plaster and stucco are very similar in their versatility and can produce some incredible results.
