The Form and Material of Stucco Decoration: Developing Research Projects for Better Understanding, Conservation and Dissemination

This article presents some research projects that have been conducted in recent years with the aim of investigating stucco decoration beyond its formal components, analyzing the fundamental role of technique within artistic expression. In 2015, the team at the University of Applied Arts and Sciences of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) started to work on ‘The Art and Industry of Ticinese Stucco Artists from the Sixteenth to the Seventeenth Century’ to analyze the artistic process through which different stucco artists from southern Switzerland created important works of art in their homeland. An interdisciplinary working method was established allowing participants to study stucco decoration in a more comprehensive way. This project was followed in 2021 by ‘Resta di stucco’ or ‘Left in Amazement’, an initiative aimed at communicating with the wider public on this heritage that is little valued by local residents. Finally, in 2023, the international Erasmus+ project ‘Stucco Decoration across Europe’, led by the Department of Art History at Palacký University in Olomouc, offered the opportunity to create an interdisciplinary network of specialists ready to understand and preserve stucco decorations. The partners will share their interdisciplinary know-how gained through practice and university lectures to train a new generation of specialists in order to break down the sense of isolation currently felt in the field and to preserve this common European cultural heritage.