gesso

Borrowed from Italian gesso. Doublet of gypsum. Compare Spanish yeso (“plaster, cast”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛsəʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɛsəʊ

gesso (usually uncountable, plural gessos or gessoes)

1. A mixture of plaster of Paris and glue used to prepare a surface for painting.
   • 1994, Timothy Noad, Patricia Seligman, The Illuminated Alphabet, The Quarto Group (Chartwell Books), 2017, page 27,

     The combination of leaf gold and gesso is almost miraculous. No photographic reproduction can adequately show the brilliant effect of raised gesso.

   • 1999, Altoon Sultan, The Luminous Brush, Watson-Guptill, page 37,

     To make the gesso, you need a chalk and a glue. During the Renaissance, gesso was made with gypsum, which is calcium sulphate. Terra Alba, available from art suppliers today, is a natural gypsum that makes a bright white gesso.

   • 2007, Robin Cormack, Icons, The British Museum Press, Harvard University Press, page 33,

     The idea was that this would serve as a binder for the layer of gesso or at least might help to prevent the painting from instantly cracking apart if the wood split at any time.

2. A work of art done in gesso.

Confusion arises from the fact that the Italian gesso is often translated as chalk, which in English is ambiguous and can be interpreted either as the mineral calcium carbonate or, in a more faithful translation, as calcium sulfate (gypsum; the "chalk" used to mark blackboards). In fact, both materials appear to have been used, historically.

In 1955, a water-based acrylic gesso was developed comprised of calcium carbonate, the pigment titanium white (titanium dioxide) and an acrylic polymer medium. Modern acrylic gessos come in a variety of materials and mixtures, including coloured pigments, combined with the acrylic polymer base.

• gesso duro
• gesso grosso (rough first layer of gesso)
• gesso sottile (finer second or subsequent layer)

• "What is Gesso?", Rebecca E. Parsons, The Graphics Fairy
• "gesso", on Britannica.com

• Goses, Segos, goses, segos

< Italian gesso

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡesːo/, [ˈɡe̞s̠ːo̞]
• Rhymes: -esːo
• Syllabification^(key): ges‧so

gesso

1. gesso (mixture of plaster of Paris and glue)

From Latin gypsum, from Ancient Greek γύψος (gúpsos).

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛs.so/[1]
• Rhymes: -ɛsso
• Hyphenation: gès‧so

gesso m (plural gessi)

1. chalk
2. a cast

• gesso

• gessetto
• gessoso
• ingessare

• → English: gesso

• gesso in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Inherited from Latin gypsum (“gypsum”), from Ancient Greek γύψος (gúpsos). Doublet of giz, borrowed through Arabic.

• Hyphenation: ges‧so

gesso m (plural gessos)

1. gypsum (mineral)

   Synonym: gipsita

2. plaster (substance used for coating walls and ceilings)

   Synonym: estuque

3. cast (device to help mend broken bones)

• gesso de Paris