Stucco

stuk'ko, a building material. It is composed of lime and white marble crushed into a powder. It is a lime plaster in which sand has been replaced by pulverized marble. It is a beautiful white plastering material suitable for inside work. It takes a smooth, satiny finish and looks like marble. It may be molded into flowers, arabesques, moldings, cornices, and the like. It can be molded more easily than marble may be carved. Though far more substantial and more beautiful than ordinary plaster, it is considered a sham in comparison with cut marble. Stucco was a favorite material with Moorish, that is to say, Arab architects. The interior decoration of the Alhambra is done in stucco. The pendant ceiling in Henry VIII's chapel in Westminster is of stucco. Some of the fine work in Florence and Rome is of stucco, but the Italians were partial to marble. Nearly all German work is in honest stone. See Cement; Concrete; Sculpture; Plaster Of Paris