What is the painting technique called that uses watercolor on wet plaster and was favored before oil paints?

• A. Fresco
• B. Oil
• C. Tempera
• D. Watercolor

Answer: (C)

Fresco is painting on wet plaster with pigments suspended in water, so the color fuses with the plaster as it dries. This approach was widely used for large wall paintings in antiquity and the Renaissance and was favored before oil paints because it yields durable murals and fits the pace of working on walls. Tempera uses an egg yolk binder and is typically applied to dry surfaces like wooden panels, not on wet plaster, so it doesn’t match the described technique. Oil paints, with their oil binder, became dominant later, replacing many fresco applications in panel and wall works. Watercolor on paper is a separate studio technique and not the wall-painting method described here. So the technique described is fresco.