Paint Analysis And Colour Matching

Some of the Work that we Carry Out

By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen Architectural Paint Specialists Papers and Paints Ltd London

On 1st January 2007 Papers and Paints were granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen

PAPERS and PAINTS • Enormous range of paint colours • Friendly advice • Colour matching • Consultancy on historical decoration • Established nearly 50 years

PAPERS and PAINTS • Family business • Founded by Robert Baty in 1960 • Run by his son Patrick for over 25 years

Patrick Baty Since completing a research degree that focussed on the 18th century housepainter’s methods and materials Patrick has advised on a considerable range of restoration projects in the UK and USA

Patrick Baty Patrick comes from a line of colourists – his great grandfather, the artist Robert Polhill Bevan, was described by a former director of the National Gallery as being “perhaps the first Englishman to use pure colour in the 20th Century” Bevan’s wife, Stanisława de Karłowska, also a successful artist combined a modernist style with colours inspired by her native Poland

Patrick has carried out extensive research into the use of pigments in architectural and decorative painting

Patrick Baty has written, taught and lectured on the use of paint and colour in architecture for many years He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group and a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Patrick Baty has run a number of paint workshops in the UK and USA during the last fifteen years

Patrick and his team of arts graduates have great experience in the use of paint and colour in buildings old and new Apart from advising on and mixing paint colours Papers and Paints can also assist with the following….

Colour Matching • Existing paint • Wallpapers and fabrics • Other objects • Either in the shop or on site

Colour Matching

We are often asked to reproduce obsolete colours

Corporate Colour Work • Corporate Colours • Shop Fronts & Fascias

Estate Colours • Identifying Earlier Colour • Advice on New Colour • Experience throughout the UK

Paint Analysis • To establish how a room once looked • To date a structure • To guide the redecoration of an early building

Colour Surveys • Colour measurements taken • Existing colours identified • Maintenance schedule prepared • Great savings in time and expense

Colour Consultancy • Nearly 20 years experience on some of the most prestigious restoration projects • Consultant to the Crown, Government and many National and private institutions • Many private clients in the UK and USA

Colour Ranges Developed • Heritage range designed for Dulux • New range for English Heritage • Ranges for the French & German markets • Our own paint ranges

Colour Ranges Dulux Heritage Range 1994

Colour Ranges

Little Greene / English Heritage Range 2005

Traditional Colours This range is based on a set of handpainted colour cards that date from 1807. They reflect a number of colours in use during the 18th and early 19th centuries Set of eight cards £10

Traditional Colours Some of the original colour cards from 1807 and the ruins of the house in whose archives they were found

Historical Colours

These are based on a work of 1934, which shows a selection of colours used on artefacts over the ages

Historical Colours The colours of ancient Egypt were limited. Here a couple of reds from haematite, a green from malachite and a blue from cobalt or copper can be seen

Historical Colours Papers and Paints brought out this range of historical colours in the mid 1980s. They were the first of such ranges to have appeared on the market in recent years Set of fourteen cards £12

1950s Colours This range is based on some of the colours that we were selling when we opened in 1960 Set of six cards £8

1950s Colours

Some of the colour cards that we used in the 1960s

Paint Analysis

Small samples of paint are removed from representative elements of the room being examined

Paint Analysis

The samples are set in a clear resin and numbered

Paint Analysis

When the resin has set the block is cut through and polished

Paint Analysis

The samples are then examined under high magnification

Paint Analysis

A series of green schemes found on a garden door on a Scottish estate

Paint Analysis Occasionally further tests are required to establish the composition of a paint layer. Here the scanning electron microscope confirms that a paint is made up of lead and zinc with small quantities of chalk and barytes added as an extender

Colour Measurement

We are frequently asked to match the existing paint colour on an object. Here a sentry box at Kensington Palace is being measured with a spectrophotometer

Colour Measurement

Over the last twelve years we have measured and stored several hundred thousand paint colours with the spectrophotometer. These are stored on a PC and close matches can be found for most new colours

Paint Analysis Brodie Castle Moray

We were asked to identify the first scheme in the 1820s drawing room

Paint Analysis

Brodie Castle, Drawing Room – the walls, joinery and ceiling were originally grained in imitation of oak

Colour Measurement

Apsley House

Colour Measurement

Apsley House Gate piers painted to match Portland stone. We have also carried out a colour survey of the interior

Paint Analysis BBC & Radio Theatre

Colour Survey Boodles’ St James’s

Paints matched to existing and maintenance schedule prepared

Colour Measurement Royal Naval College Greenwich Painted Hall Survey of existing colours to produce a scheme for the dado

Colour Measurement Royal Naval College Greenwich Painted Hall An average was made of the existing colours on the upper walls and a match produced for the dado

Colour Survey

Brooks’s, St James’s A survey was made of the existing paint colours and a maintenance schedule prepared

Paint Analysis Handel House Home to the composer George Frideric Handel from 1723 to 1759

Colour Measurement

Wilton House

Colour Measurement

A fragment of the wall surface on a paint matched to the overall colour of the stippled finish

Wilton House Little Smoking Room

Colour Survey

Wilton House Wyatt Cloisters

Each web of the vaulted ceiling had been painted in a different colour when John Fowler supervised the decoration in the 1960s. We carried out a survey in order to be able to reproduce the colours

Paint Analysis Holmwood House Glasgow Considered the finest domestic design by the architect Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson

Paint Analysis Holmwood House Cupola over stairs

The cupola was decorated on about nine occasions since 1857-58. Gilding was employed on the third occasion

Paint Analysis Holmwood House Dining Room The deep pink of the first oil-based scheme was composed of vermilion and red iron oxide

Paint Analysis Holmwood House Entrance Hall This stencilled scheme was discovered to be the fifth, not the first as had been believed

Paint Analysis Travellers’ Club Pall Mall Analysis and colour matching carried out over the last 15 years

Paint Analysis

Greenbank, Glasgow

Colour Matching

St James’s Palace Surfaces matched in various parts of the building

Paint Analysis Royal Pavilion Brighton Blue Verditer pigment in dispersion viewed under a polarising microscope

Paint Analysis

Hammersmith Bridge

Paint Analysis

All elements were sampled

View from the top

Hammersmith Bridge

Paint Analysis Golden Lane Estate London We were asked to identify the 1962 colour schemes for this newly-listed housing estate

Paint Analysis

Golden Lane Estate

Colour Measurement Downing Street Initially we were asked to match the colour of a sentry box. Other colour work has also been carried out on the interior

Paint Analysis

Culzean Castle, Ayrshire

Paint Analysis

Culzean Castle, Ayrshire

Paint Analysis The exposed “blue” can be seen under the microscope

The weathered blue was a green when first applied

Culzean Castle, Ayrshire

Historical Consultancy Tryon Palace North Carolina USA A visit to advise on the appropriate decoration for this 1950s recreation of the original State Capitol

Paint Analysis House of the Binns West Lothian

We carried out the analysis of the Laigh Hall and the High Hall

Paint Analysis Syon House Great Conservatory

The original scheme of 1827 was revealed

Colour and Technical Advice

A House in Southern Ireland

Colour and Technical Advice A House in Southern Ireland Numerous visits were made during the five year restoration of this house. Advice was given on appropriate colours and types of paint

Paint Analysis Bennehan House North Carolina USA Analysis of a small plantation house. Venue of several paint workshops run by Patrick Baty of Papers and Paints

Paint Workshops Bennehan House North Carolina USA

Following the analysis we made the paint and then applied it

Colour Measurement Foreign Office Not only did we identify the original colour of the external ironwork, but we have also matched paint in various locations

Paint Analysis Artillery Lane Spitalfields The finest 18th century shopfront in London

Paint Analysis Artillery Lane, Spitalfields

Cross section of paint

Scanning Electron Microscope print-out

Analysis and Historical Advice

Hampton Court Palace Privy Garden

Paint Analysis Royal Festival Hall We were asked to identify the 1951 decorative scheme for the refurbishment

Royal Festival Hall Bright red was found juxtaposed with dull green

Paint Workshops Eastfield Village New York USA Five day courses run by Matt Mosca and Patrick Baty of Papers and Paints

Paint Analysis

Newhailes, East Lothian

Paint Analysis Newhailes East Lothian We established that the Dining Room had last been painted in 1873 and that it was not the original scheme of 1739 that had survived

Paint Analysis

Newhailes, East Lothian Until our investigation it was thought that this house had been untouched by time

Colour Survey Syon Park Great Hall The painted scheme of John Fowler has been measured to enable a seamless repaint

Paint Analysis Benjamin Franklin House We identified the decorative schemes that existed when the house was occupied by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin House The railings were found to have been painted grey on the first four occasions

Cross section of paint from front railings

Historical Consultancy Kew Palace We have been employed to advise on the restoration of the painted schemes that existed when occupied by King George III

Colour Measurement

Kew Palace

Analysis and Colour Survey Lancaster House We carried out the analysis of the Grand Hall and the Long Gallery. A colour survey was also made of the State Rooms

Paint Analysis Lancaster House “Bronzed” Atlas in the lantern

First “bronzed” scheme

Cross section of paint from “bronzed” element. It had been painted twice

Historical Consultancy A private house in

Charleston South Carolina USA Patrick Baty was asked to assist an American paint analyst and to prepare a paint specification

Paint Analysis

Royal Naval College, Greenwich – Chapel Vestibule

Paint Analysis Royal Naval College Greenwich Chapel Vestibule The initial scheme was a stone-coloured distemper. This was later replaced by a similar colour in oil paint Plaster

Distemper

Colour Matching

Kensington Palace Orangery

Colour Matching Kensington Palace Orangery A wooden plinth had been built to prevent the base of the statue being damaged. We were asked to produce a textured paint in a colour to match the Portland stone base

Colour Matching

Kensington Palace, Orangery The walls and panelling were measured in order to produce matching paint colours

Analysis and Colour Matching Dover House The Scottish Office We carried out the analysis of the Rotunda and matched paint colours in the Scottish Secretary’s Office

Paint Analysis Hill of Tarvit Fife The external decoration of all the buildings on this early 20th century estate was established

Paint Analysis Hill of Tarvit, Fife

Stables – panelling by hay heck

Layers of paint on panelling – original was a pale stone colour

Paint Analysis Hill of Tarvit, Fife

External face of stable door – dark blue now although grained originally

Paint Analysis

Welsh Non-Conformist Chapel Oswestry

Paint Analysis Gilding on internal columns

Early stencilling

Welsh Non-Conformist Chapel

Paint Analysis Athenaeum Club London We carried out an analysis of the paint on the external stucco and the gilded statue of Athena

Paint Analysis Temple Newsam near Leeds We identified the 1740s decorative scheme in the Picture Gallery and proved that the original flock paper had been green

Paint Analysis

Fragment of green flock trapped on primer

Temple Newsam – Picture Gallery Cross Section

Paint Analysis 26-31 Charlotte Square Edinburgh We were employed to investigate the decorative schemes applied to the inside and outside of six adjacent buildings in the New Town

Colour Consultancy Windsor Castle Berkshire We have carried out various projects in the Castle

For more information on what we do:

www.papers-paints.co.uk