fresco

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The Word of the Day for December 27 is:

fresco   \FRESS-koh\   noun
    *1 : the art of painting on freshly spread moist lime 
plaster with water-based pigments
     2 : a painting executed in fresco

Example sentence:
     The fresco that adorned the wall of the old Roman 
cathedral took the artist five years to complete.

Did you know?
     "Fresco" means "fresh" in Italian, and the name of this 
art form refers to the fresh plaster used in it. It's an 
ancient art, the oldest known painting medium other than cave 
painting, and it reached its height during the Italian 
Renaissance of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. There 
are actually two types of fresco painting: "fresco secco" (lime 
painting) and "buon ("true") fresco." In "fresco secco," a 
freshly plastered wall is soaked in lime, then lime-resistant 
pigments are applied. Michelangelo used "buon fresco" 
techniques, in which pigments are fused directly with wet 
plaster, in his murals in the Sistine Chapel.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.