FRENCH SOMALILAND 



2337 



FRESCO 



FRENCH SOMALILAND, so mah' le land, a 

 French possession at the entrance to the Red 

 Sea, in Northeast Africa. It covers an area 

 of about 5,790 square miles, and is therefore 

 nearly as large as Rhode Island and Connec- 



FRENCH SOMALILAND 



ticut combined. The interior consists of a 

 series of dry tablelands rising to a height of 

 about 4,000 feet. The rivers, dry water courses 

 late in the summer, become raging torrents 

 for a short time during the rainy season in 

 May and June. In some parts the soil is fer- 

 tile and produces good crops of millet and 

 other grains. Exports consist chiefly of coffee, 

 hides, ivory, gum, mother-of-pearl a~nd small 

 quantities of gold. The most important indus- 

 tries are turtle and mother-of-pearl fisheries. 

 There is only one good harbor, at Jibuti, the 

 seat of government and terminus of a railway 

 running through the colony into Abyssinia. 

 Other towns of importance are Obok, the for- 

 mer capital, Ambado, and Tajurah. 



The colony is administered by a governor 

 sent from France, and a council of six mem- 

 bers. The inhabitants are of mixed national- 

 ities, including Somalis, Indians, Arabs, Abys- 

 sinians and about 2,000 Europeans. In 1883, 

 when there was considerable rivalry between 

 France and England with regard to African 

 possessions, the French annexed this colony. 

 Treaties with England and Italy, whose col- 

 ony of Eritrea forms part of the northern 

 boundary, have clearly defined the limits of 

 the French territory. Population in 1910, 

 about 208,000. 



FRENCHTOWN, BATTLE OF. See RAISIN 

 RIVER, MASSACRE OF. 



FRESCO, ires' ko, or FRESCO PAINTING. 

 The term fresco, which is the Italian for fresh, 

 is applied to a painting executed in water color 

 on fresh plaster. Before beginning his work 

 the artist usually makes a drawing of his sub- 

 ject in black and white, called a cartoon, which 

 is exactly the size of the intended picture. A 

 smaller-sized sketch is also prepared in colors, 

 147 



to use as a reference as the work proceeds. 

 Enough fresh plaster for a day's work is laid 

 on the surface to be decorated and the cartoon 

 is then placed on the plaster, the outlines of 

 the picture being traced in it by means of a 

 dull-pointed instrument made of wood or bone. 



The artist then proceeds with the painting, 

 working as rapidly as possible. As fresco can- 

 not be retouched successfully after the plaster 

 is dry, a portion of the picture once com- 

 menced must be completed almost at once. 

 When the day's work is ended, the artist re- 

 moves any unpainted part of the plaster, 

 cutting it neatly along the finished edge of the 

 picture, so that the joining of the plaster for 

 the next day's work may be concealed. The 

 coloring in fresco painting is notably clear and 

 pure, but it is lacking in richness and depth. 



Fresco painting reached a high state of 

 development in Italy in the fourteenth, fif- 

 teenth and sixteenth centuries. Among the 

 most celebrated frescoes of that period are the 



THE "ANNUNCIATION" 



A fresco in the Convent of San Marco, Flor- 

 ence, executed by Giovanni Angelico. 



decorations of the Sistine Chapel in the Vat- 

 ican, by Michelangelo. His painting of The 

 Last Judgment, which covers the entire altar 

 wall, is the largest fresco in the world. Michel- 

 angelo also executed two large frescoes for the 

 Pauline Chapel The Conversion of Saint Peter 

 and The Crucifixion of Peter. Several rooms 

 of the Vatican are beautified by fresco paint- 

 ings executed by Raphael, and the frescoes in 

 the Church of San Marco, m Florence, by Fra 

 Angelico, are also famous. 



Fresco painting was revived in the nine- 

 teenth century by the German artist Peter von 

 Cornelius, whose decorations in the Church of 

 Ludwig, in Munich, are the most important 

 frescoes of modern times. Through his influ- 

 ence the new Houses of Parliament, London, 

 were decorated with this form of painting. 



