The fresco - a painting on fresh plaster - is a technique of wall painting used since antiquity. Frescoes serve a wide variety of purposes: In churches as a Bible in pictures and for the representation of the life of saints or the truths of faith; in town halls they depict the ideals of a city government, in castles and palaces the appreciation of art and the sovereign virtues of the sponsors. This volume is devoted to frescoes and other impressive wall and ceiling paintings from the Romanesque period to the 19th century.