Graffito facade - Via della Maschera d’Oro - Rome

The façade of the Palace in 9 Via della Maschera d’Oro is one of approximatively one hundred houses decorated with the “graffito” technique in Rome. This technique, which is typical at the late XV century, entails using a sharp point to engrave or scratch a thin light layer of mortar and black pozzolana so as to reveal the dark plaster underneath and obtain chiaroscuro effects. The decorations mainly display scenes from the first spires of the Trajan Column and mythological representations that are difficult to identify. Although he attribution of the piece is uncertain. Baldassarre Peruzzi and Jacopo Ripanda are among the artists hypotesized to have executed the work, which is believed to date from between the late 15th century and 1506. We restored the "graffiti" decorations on the façade.
(Photo by P. Soriani)