Inquiring readers, One of the perks of overseeing a blog is getting to know the fascinating people one encounters while researching a topic. One such individual is Patrick Baty of Papers and Paints. Mr. Baty has carried out extensive research into the use of pigments in architectural and decorative paintings. Recently I asked him the following questions:
Image of painters from Papers and Paints
“If Sir Walter Elliot from Persuasion decided to paint the door to the carriage house at Kellynch Hall, how would this be accomplished? Would he keep a painter on hand or hire one? Were paints made from scratch from a tried and true formula, or did each painter have a formulaic secret? What were the typical colors used for exterior doors and window casements, and wooden structures?”
Mr. Baty: “It is likely that [Sir Walter] would have hired a painter, unless he was tempted by some of the literature of the time, for example T.H. Vanherman’s “Every Man his own House-painter and Colourman“, 1829. One hundred years earlier there was this revealing passage in a work of 1734:
“Painters Work being very expensive, and this being the only part in Building wherein a Gentleman can be assisting either by himself or Servants, it being almost impossible for any Gentleman to do either Masons, Bricklayers, Carpenters, or Smiths Works; whereas it is well known and daily experienced since the Advertisement of ALEXANDER EMERTON, that several Noblemen and Gentlemen have by themselves and Servants painted whole Houses without the Assistance or Direction of a Painter, which when examined by the best Judges could not be distinguished from the Work of a professed Painter.”
If his house/estate were big enough he might have had a handyman/painter. Otherwise he would have called upon the services of a firm like Messrs Moxon & Carfrae Ltd, painters and decorators, Edinburgh, whose day books survive from the 1770s.
Paints were generally made from ready-mixed paste bought at a colourman’s shop as can be seen in this quote of 1747:
“Methods practised by some Colour-Shops; who have set up Horse-Mills to grind the Colours, and sell them to Noblemen & Gentlemen ready mixed at a low price, & by the help of a few printed Directions, a house may be painted by any common Labourer at one Third of the Expense it would have cost before the Mystery was made public”
Different painters might have had slightly different recipes, but the general mixes would have been very similar. (The Methods and Materials of the House Painter in England: An Analysis of House Painting Literature 1660 – 1850, thesis by Patrick Baty.)
Boodle's St. James's. Papers and Paints performed the colour survey.
The sort of colours being sold by a Bath colourman of the period for exterior use were:
Olive brown paint in casks of 30lb & upwards, per lb 3d
Oil Paints
- Lead colour 4 1/2d
- Chocolate colour 4 1/2d
- Invisible green 4 1/2d
- Stone colour 5d
- Black 6d
- Garden green 8d
- Rich bottle green 1 0
- Deep Sardinian green 2 0
- Light ditto, ditto, 2 0
- Rainbow green 3 6
Windows, normally, would have been a pale stone colour (off white).
More about Patrick Baty: Since carrying out a research degree which focussed on The Methods and Materials of the House-painter 1650-1850,Patrick has been running a consultancy that advises on the use of paint and colours in historic buildings. Buildings have ranged in size and type from Royal palaces; country houses and cathedrals to museums; a wartime RAF station and London housing estates.
Visit Patrick’s sites at the following links: Papers and Paints website; Colourman Blog, the Papers and Paints blog; and Papers and Paints Twitter Account.
More on the topic:
- The Role of Paint Analysis in the Historic Interior, Patrick Baty
- The Paint Detective, Patrick Baty
- The Traditional Colour Range, Papers and Paints
- Some Colours of the 18th and 19th Centuries
- Papers and Paints Presentation, PDF document
- The Creation of Color in 18th Century Europe
I know this is a delicate question but I’m dying of curiosity. What did the nobles and the gentile do for toileting necessities? Did they have privies? Garderobes (and what, exactly, IS a garderobe)? Did they use chamberpots and the servents emptied them? And Where? Out the window? I’ve had a hard time imagining Lizzy Bennett ducking behind the house to the Privy.
Cenya
Yes, privies were used, especially in cities, but they were notoriously filthy, and thus the upper classes tended to use chamberpots, the contents of which servants deposited in cesspits in towns and cities; and as compost in the country. This article on nightsoilmen, who were paid to remove human waste from homes, is quite illuminating.
http://georgian-victorian-britain.suite101.com/article.cfm/night-soil-men-the-human-waste-collectors-of-georgian-london
I must add that I am not entirely familiar with garderobes. I did see a few as I visited British castles, for these were privies that were built into castle walls and overhung them. I believe the contents would fall down to the ground below or into the moat. Not very sanitary, but a solution, especially if the castle was under siege. One imagines that individuals much like nightsoilmen would clean the excrement up rather than let it lie where it fell.
Fascinating. While I don’t think that Sir Walter Elliot would be tempted to paint the door to his carriage house, I would imagine that he had someone on his estate who oversaw the maintenance of the house and outbuildings. I wonder what invisible green looked like?
Very interesting post and information! I loved the color list with its “ditto, ditto” and the names of the colors. Thank you for sharing!
Wow, what a great surprise to find Patrick Baty visiting here! His dedication to “getting it right” with historical colour has made me visualize the past in all-new (or is that all-old?) hues. Thanks so much for this post, Vic, and thanks to Mr. Baty as well.
Thank you all for stopping by. And thank you for your kind words, Susan. Watch for another post from Patrick Baty next week in which he explains invisible green! Vic
[…] July 26, 2010 by Vic Inquiring reader: This is the second post by historical paint expert Patrick Baty of Papers and Paints, who has carried out extensive research into the use of pigments in architectural and decorative paintings. He has kindly answered a question about the paint color “invisible green,” which was left on his previous post, Painting a House During the Regency Era. […]
[…] Painting a House During the Regency Era: Q&A With Colourman Patrick Baty […]
garderobes originally did exactly that, in answer to the question; the stanch from the human waste going down the open drain deterred moth that would otherwise eat the predominantly woollen cloths. The word changed and is now wardrobe, while the place to deal with human waste is a different place entirely. The jakes or jacks [later in American English the John] might have had running water to carry away waste in some great houses; and from the 1790’s the Bramah patent closet with flushing mechanism was available to the better off.