José Aguiar

Sgraffito and colour in Alentejo

This article intends to bring awareness to the architectonic value of sgraffito and summarize its risks, emphasizing the need to change intervention methodologies, promoting its safeguard and material its authenticity. In the last years, hundreds of buildings with sgraffito application in external facades have been discovered in Alentejo. One of the most important results of our research on sgraffito in the Alentejo Region is the fact that the majority of the listed sgraffito ornaments have been painted over so many times, that today we can hardly identify its original aspect, its chromatic values or its textures. Since sgraffito is a decorative technique with external plaster, some of its values, such as the dual colour variation and the aesthetical tension given by different textures and colours, which are intrinsic to the nature of this mural covering, must not be forgotten. Although the current restoration culture assumes as a sine qua non condition the conservation of the substance as a cultural certification, the interventions in sgrafitto, often use criteria deriving from renovation building techniques rather than careful preservation. Unfortunately, a strong unfamiliarity to its particular values and to its specific techniques is usually the case, resulting in inadequate recovering processes. An example is the application of painting layers over those ornaments, causing loss of authenticity, and also loss of aesthetical and historical values of the building. General concept and particular techniques of execution of sgraffito are described, establishing the panorama of sgraffito in Alentejo, illustrated with examples where original colour, texture and surfaces were not modified. Few interventions are shown where an adequate restoration was accomplished, comparing those cases with countless examples where sgraffito technique was completely subverted. Finally, we present a set of recommendations to help changing the quality of interventions on sgraffito.