Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class.

旁白：请听一段艺术课的讲座的节选。

The professor has been discussing the Italian Renaissance.

教授在讨论意大利文艺复兴。

Professor: In our discussion of Italian Renaissance paintings from the 1400s and early 1500s, we've looked at some masterpieces on canvas and on wood, but our discussion would be grossly incomplete without talking about frescos.

教授：我们在讨论15世纪到16世纪早期的意大利文艺复兴的绘画时，已经看了一些画在帆布上或者画在木头上的杰作，但是如果我们不讨论壁画的话，那么我们的讨论将会是很不完整的。

Frescos are basically paintings done on the interiors of buildings, on walls and ceilings.

壁画是画在建筑物内部的画，画在墙上或者天花板上。

They weren't invented during the Renaissance.

它们并不是在文艺复兴时期被发明的。

If you remember we looked briefly at frescos paintings way back in our discussion of ancient Romans and ancient Roman art a few weeks ago.

如果你还记得我们几个星期以前学习古罗马和古罗马艺术时简单看了些壁画（就是在这个时候壁画被发明了）。

But, it was much later during the Renaissance that the term fresco was commonly used.

但是，壁画这个术语的广泛运用是在其发明之后很久的文艺复兴时期。

It's an Italian word that means literally fresh.

这是一个意大利词汇，字面意思是新鲜的。

And, well, to explain that, we have to get specific about technique.

而且，为了解释这个术语，我们需要具体看一下壁画涉及到的技术。

Back then, most buildings had stone and brick walls with highly irregular surfaces.

回到文艺复兴那时，很多建筑是石头或者砖墙的，表面凹凸不平。

They weren't smooth.

它们是不光滑的。

Also, the walls weren't completely waterproof.

而且，这些墙壁也不完全是防水的。

Moisture could seep in.

潮气可以渗入。

Buildings were often damp.

所以建筑总是潮乎乎的。

There was no way to really control humidity inside buildings in those days.

在当时，并没有什么可控制室内湿度的措施。

So, because frescos are done inside buildings on walls, well, the walls needed to be prepared before work could begin.

所以，因为壁画是画在建筑物内部的墙上的，这些墙壁需要在开始作画之前先作一下准备。

So for example, sometimes, thin reed mats were stuck onto the walls, so these thin reed mats would be like an additional layer between the original part of the wall and the frescos, the painted part of the walls that were done over them.

所以举个例子，有时候，（作画之前）需要先在墙上铺一层薄薄的芦苇席子，这个席子就成为了壁画和墙壁之间多出来的一层。绘制壁画的墙壁部分就是在这样的芦苇上面作画的。

The reed mats could smooth out the surface of a rough wall or could also provide that all- important protection from moisture or do both.

芦苇席可以让墙壁变得光滑，或者起到重要的防潮作用，或者两者兼有。

So it was the wall, then the mats, then plaster on top of the mats, then the fresco painted onto the plaster.

所以先是墙壁，再有了芦苇席子，再在芦苇上面打一层石膏，然后才是在石膏上面作画。

Other times though, plaster was applied directly to the walls, a thick layer of plaster, to fill in spaces between the bricks, to smooth out the wall surface for painting the fresco.

其他的时候，石膏是直接打到墙上的，需要打上厚厚的一层，以填平墙壁上原有的坑坑洼洼，使得墙壁变得光滑，以便于作画。

You see.

你（们）看。

Plaster is a whitish kind of paste, a mixture of lime, water and sand.

石膏是一种白色的糊状物，一种石灰、水和沙子的混合物。

After you spread plaster on a surface, it'll harden, like cement does.

在你把石灰涂到墙上之后，它会变硬，跟水泥一样。

But as I said, fresco means fresh.

但是就像我说过的，壁画这个词字面上的意思是新鲜的。

And that's because to create a fresco, the painting has to be applied very soon after the plaster has been spread over a surface, right on to the wet fresh plaster.

那是因为如果想创造一副壁画，在石膏被抹到墙壁上以后，要尽快作画，在石膏还是湿着的时候就画完。

By doing this, the painting actually becomes part of the plaster.

通过这种办法，绘画的颜料就渗进石膏里，两者融为一体了。

Finishing a painting before the plaster dry was a real challenge for fresco painters.

对于壁画绘画者来说，在石膏变干之前完成画作是很有挑战性的。

The technique of creating frescos was developed overtime and eventually perfected during the Renaissance, a time when immense buildings were being erected as symbols of wealth and power, very large buildings, which people wanted decorated on the inside as well as the outside.

壁画的创作技术随时间而发展，最后在文艺复兴时期臻于完美。文艺复兴时期，巨大的建筑物作为财富和权力的象征而被建造起来，它们规模庞大，人们既想着装饰外部，也想装饰内部。

The owners of these grand buildings wanted to decorate the walls to reflect their own affluence and prestige.

这些巨大建筑的所有者想通过装饰墙壁来展现自己的富有和声望。

Now, few people would argue with the greatness of artists from that period, Michelangelo, Raphael.

现在，很少有人会质疑那个时期的艺术家的伟大，比如米开朗琪罗，拉斐尔。

But there is this popular mental image people have of an artistic genius producing a masterpiece in total solitude.

人们很容易在脑海里勾勒出一幅一位艺术天才孤独地独自完成一幅大师之作的画面。

Well, that idea is fine for canvas painting or other small works, but a practical reality of fresco painting in the Renaissance was collaboration.

这个想法在油画或者小的作品上面是可能的，但画壁画的时候，合作才是事实。

The sheer dimensions of the surfaces involved, plus the physical properties of the plaster, meant it was inevitable that Renaissance artists would rely on assistants, apprentices they were called, to help create their masterpieces.

巨大的作画面积，加上石膏的物理性质，意味着文艺复兴时期的艺术家必须依赖助手（当时称为学徒）来帮助作画。

Artists had to plan the work carefully, divide it into several days.

艺术家需要精心策划整个作画过程，把它分成几天的工作。

Each day was a repetition of the same technical process.

每一天的工作都是相同过程的重复。

Apprentices mix paints, prepare the plaster, spread it on one section of the wall or ceiling, then finally paint on the wet plaster.

学徒调好颜料，准备石膏，把石膏抹在一部分墙壁或天花板上，最后在湿的石膏上面作画。

This had to be done within a few hours before the plaster dried.

这一系列过程需要在石膏干掉以前的几个小时内完成。

So they go through that whole process in one day on one section.

所以这群人在一天之内要完成一个部分的画作。

The next day they'd move on and do it again on an adjacent part.

第二天他们在相邻的墙壁上继续重复这个绘画过程。

So any fresco commissioned to an artist was, for practical reasons, commissioned to a whole team.

所以委托给一个艺术家的壁画实际上是委托给了一整个团队。

Now, I am not saying a genius like Michelangelo lacked the skill to paint the enormous ceiling of The Sistine Chapel by himself, but he probably would have had to live until he was 200 years old to finish the ceiling's frescos like that without anyone's help.

我不是说一个像米开朗琪罗一样的天才艺术家没有能力独自画出西斯廷教堂巨大天花板那样的画作，但是他如果自己一人工作的话，可能需要活到200岁才能完成。

So although we aren't sure exactly how many people took an active role in actually painting the ceiling, we can see areas which are really inferior to Michelangelo's work that must have been painted by his apprentices.

所以尽管我们不知道到底有多少人在创作壁画的过程中出力了，我们可以看出来那些画得不如米开朗琪罗好的区域的壁画肯定是他的学徒画的。