Stucco

The intervals having been filled with stucco, after the manner described under that head, each is sprinkled with water, and well rubbed with the float until the surface becomes perfectly smooth. This stucco must be thoroughly dry before the paint or other finishing is applied.

The writer Juan Rulfo, whose 1955 novel, “Pedro Páramo,” still stands as the central monument of modern Mexican literature, grew up in Jalisco and vividly depicted its arid, sun-blasted landscapes in his writing, while the architect Luis Barragán, who moved from Guadalajara to Mexico City in the 1930s, carried with him an appreciation for his home state’s cloisters, haciendas and humble country buildings, which he translated in his own work as austere, inscrutable volumes of stucco.

A stone staircase ‘well furnished with stucco’ led to Dr. Delany’s panelled but otherwise undecorated library, Mrs. Delany’s boudoir or bedroom opening through an arched doorway on her painting closet and a fine drawing room about 30 ft. by 25 ft. which gave a splendid view over the city – fastigia despicit urbis.

Many stuccos and paintings were also found on the mosaic floor of the presbyterium and choir; most of these are now in the Bardo Museum in Tunis.