During the Italian Renaissance, stucco was used again as an architectural complement, along with paint, following the trends originated by archaeological discoveries. A large number of techniques were perfected and later spread throughout Europe. White stucco was used extensively on church walls, sometimes to paint figures of angels. Raphael and other artists of the time used colored stucco friezes to decorate palaces and pavilions. Among the most relevant are the reliefs by Francesco Primaticcio (1533–1565) for the castle of Fontainebleau, near Paris.

This material reached its most splendid heights during the 17th and 18th centuries. Both Baroque and Rococo decorated their interiors with stucco, especially in Bavaria and Austria, where pilgrimage palaces and churches featured polychrome stucco in myriad forms — specular motifs, paired columns, and elaborated altars. Stucco also played an important role in architectural decoration in England, but in a less fanciful and exuberant way than in the Rococo; reaches its climax with the architect Robert Adam, who used it for his exquisite ornamentation of walls and ceilings, in neoclassical style.