All Manner of Murals

All Manner of Murals explores over 500 years of secular wall painting, from Renaissance Britain to contemporary works. Featuring 20 papers from three ICON Stone and Wall Painting Group symposia, the volume examines the artistic, historical, and cultural significance of murals-whether in cottages or palaces-and the challenges of preserving them. Celebrating murals as reflections of changing worldviews, it highlights their enduring role in shaping and recording our environments, identities, and shared heritage.

Terrifying beasts, imaginary landscapes, portraits and ornaments – All Manner of Murals celebrates the many ways we have decorated our day-to-day lives with wall paintings. Murals by their very nature must remain in and on the structures for which they were designed, inextricably at one with their surroundings, and so offer glimpses of vanished ways of living. Whether painted in a humble cottage or a grand palace, they illustrate the march not only of history, but of our view of ourselves. At once strange and strangely familiar, the ancient wall painting emerging from under layers of whitewash has much to tell us about how our predecessors saw the world around them. The tradition of wall painting, arguably the oldest of art forms, continues to this day, and our descendants may find our own values and views reflected in the murals, private and public, that we leave behind. The 20 papers collected in this volume (from 3 symposia* hosted by the Stone and Wall Painting Group of the Institute of Conservation [ICON]) explore over 500 years of secular wall paintings, right up to contemporary work, looking at why and how they were painted, and the best ways of caring for them to ensure that future generations can also find in ‘all manner of murals’ a source of wonder and of kinship to their past. *The 3 UKIC symposia were entitled: Illusions of Grandeur: English Baroque wall paintings Followers of Fashion: Renaissance wall paintings in Britain Modern Traditions: 19th- and 20th-century secular wall paintings

List of ContributorsForewordEdward Impey and Alastair McCapraPrefaceRobert GowingAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Designating the domestic - mural paintings and the Heritage Protection ReviewRoger BowdlerPart 1: History, development and care of secular wall paintingsElusive sources for Renaissance wall paintingsAnthony Wells-ColeWas there a Guise Palace in Edinburgh?Michael BathSecular wall paintings in the Welsh MarchesKathryn DaviesPattern and colour in late 16th- and 17th-century secular wall and panel paintings in Suffolk: an overviewAndrea KirkhamChanging rooms: changes in use and their impact on wall painting conservationTom OrganPainted kings and painted gods (continental copy or English inspiration? The painted Baroque interior)Giles Worsley'The negligence of men' - restoration techniques and the altered appearance of Baroque wall paintingsJane DaviesMural paintings within the Historic Royal Palaces: our approach to their continuous careKate Frame and Sophie Julien-LeesThe art of the house painter: vernacular mural decoration c.1650-1841James AyresImage and identity in mural painting in British public buildings, 1840-1940Clare A. P. WillsdonContemporary mural painting: trends and traditionsErnestine McKayPart 2: Conservation and research case studiesThe Catherine Room, Windsor CastleAnn BallantyneSixteenth-century wall paintings at the Forge, Much Hadham, HertfordshireJane RutherfoordThe public and private face of English Baroque wall painting: Milgate House, Kent and the Royal Hospital, ChelseaCaroline Babington and Richard PelterBedfordshire's Baroque masterpiece: the Thomas Archer Pavilion at Wrest ParkStephen Paine and Sophie StewartThe rediscovery of the lost ceiling decorations in the Saloon at Burlington HousePauline Plummer and Peter SchmittThe treatment of the Entrance Hall at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: changing approaches to the conservation of 19th-century polychromyTobit CurteisTracking historic attitudes towards wall painting conservation: Lord Leighton's frescoes at the V&
ARobert GowingRex Whistler: a comparative study of three decorative schemesMarguerite O'LearyMore myth than mural: a study of the Hans Feibusch murals at South Civic Centre, Newport, South WalesKate Hunter and Elizabeth Holford,

List of Contributors

Foreword

Edward Impey and Alastair McCapra

Preface

Robert Gowing

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Designating the domestic - mural paintings and the Heritage Protection Review

Roger Bowdler

Part 1: History, development and care of secular wall paintings

Elusive sources for Renaissance wall paintings

Anthony Wells-Cole

Was there a Guise Palace in Edinburgh?

Michael Bath

Secular wall paintings in the Welsh Marches

Kathryn Davies

Pattern and colour in late 16th- and 17th-century secular wall and panel paintings in Suffolk: an overview

Andrea Kirkham

Changing rooms: changes in use and their impact on wall painting conservation

Tom Organ

Painted kings and painted gods (continental copy or English inspiration? The painted Baroque interior)

Giles Worsley

'The negligence of men' - restoration techniques and the altered appearance of Baroque wall paintings

Jane Davies

Mural paintings within the Historic Royal Palaces: our approach to their continuous care

Kate Frame and Sophie Julien-Lees

The art of the house painter: vernacular mural decoration c.1650-1841

James Ayres

Image and identity in mural painting in British public buildings, 1840-1940

Clare A. P. Willsdon

Contemporary mural painting: trends and traditions

Ernestine McKay

Part 2: Conservation and research case studies

The Catherine Room, Windsor Castle

Ann Ballantyne

Sixteenth-century wall paintings at the Forge, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire

Jane Rutherfoord

The public and private face of English Baroque wall painting: Milgate House, Kent and the Royal Hospital, Chelsea

Caroline Babington and Richard Pelter

Bedfordshire's Baroque masterpiece: the Thomas Archer Pavilion at Wrest Park

Stephen Paine and Sophie Stewart

The rediscovery of the lost ceiling decorations in the Saloon at Burlington House

Pauline Plummer and Peter Schmitt

The treatment of the Entrance Hall at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: changing approaches to the conservation of 19th-century polychromy

Tobit Curteis

Tracking historic attitudes towards wall painting conservation: Lord Leighton's frescoes at the V&A

Robert Gowing

Rex Whistler: a comparative study of three decorative schemes

Marguerite O'Leary

More myth than mural: a study of the Hans Feibusch murals at South Civic Centre, Newport, South Wales

Kate Hunter and Elizabeth Holford

• Edited by Robert Gowing
• Edited by Robyn Pender

"All Manner of Murals illuminates the rich history of British secular wall painting with fascinating art-historical detail, new archival information and interpretations...All Manner of Murals makes a major contribution to highlighting the quality, diversity and vulnerability of secular wall paintings, surely the essential first step in their protection and care." Studies in Conservation "For anyone interested in the history, techniques and conservation of wall paintings, this lavishly illustrated scholarly book is essential reading. It not only captures the beauty and variety of images and motifs found in wall paintings, but also elucidates the influences and fashions which helped to create them while reminding us of their fragility and the need to conserve them for ourselves and future generations." Journal of Architectural Conservation
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All Manner of Murals illuminates the rich history of British secular wall painting with fascinating art-historical detail, new archival information and interpretations...All Manner of Murals makes a major contribution to highlighting the quality, diversity and vulnerability of secular wall paintings, surely the essential first step in their protection and care.

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For anyone interested in the history, techniques and conservation of wall paintings, this lavishly illustrated scholarly book is essential reading. It not only captures the beauty and variety of images and motifs found in wall paintings, but also elucidates the influences and fashions which helped to create them while reminding us of their fragility and the need to conserve them for ourselves and future generations.

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