Giornata

Giornata is an art term, originating from an Italian word which means "a day's work."

This amount is based on the artist's past experience of how much they can paint in the many hours available while the plaster remains wet and the pigment is able to adhere to the wall.

Generally the plaster is applied in a way that will conform to the outline of a figure, or object, in a painting, so that the daily segments will not show, but it is occasionally visible as different sections in a work where the artist may not have been able to replicate a pigment exactly the next day, or where restoration has altered or made apparent the changes in pigment between the sections.

Through this process, the next morning the artist can come and start with fresh, wet plaster that is ready to be painted on.

[3] One of the most famous fresco paintings that has examples of Giornata is in Masaccio's Holy Trinity, where there are twenty-four distinguishable giornate.

In this image, it is showing how the recent restoration of Masaccio's "Expulsion" made the giornata clearer - note the seam of darker blue pigment around the figure of Adam Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel is one of the most famous collection of paintings in the world.