Macro to Micro

Explores the evolving nature of architectural finishes and the
importance of their study for conservation and restoration. Through microscopic
and macroscopic analysis, contributors uncover hidden layers of paint, varnish,
gilding, plasterwork, stucco, wood finishes, and wallpapers to deepen our
understanding of historic materials and techniques.

The papers in this volume were presented by paint analysts, painters and decorators, architectural and art conservators, preservation architects, heritage managers, materials scientists etc. at the International Architectural Paint Research Conference held in New York City in 2017. The built environment in which architectural finishes are found is one that is constantly changing. Styles go out of fashion, use changes, and new finishes are applied. Previous finishes are often hidden below later layers – the macroscopic and microscopic study of which are important for the documentation, conservation and restoration of these materials, the finishes and the architecture. Architectural Paint Research aims to further our knowledge of materials and techniques not only of paints and varnishes but also gilding, decorative plasterwork and stucco, wood finishes and wallpapers.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Traditional finishes

The original appearance of the ‘painted chamber’ in Huis de Dieu, Alkmaar (1742–1744): the discovery of a remarkable finish

Ige Verslype, Hinke Sigmond, Richard Harmanni, Katrien Keune and Margriet van Eikema Hommes

History of painted façades from the Middle Ages to the 20th century in Flanders (Belgium)

Ann Verdonck and Marjolein Deceuninck

Limewashed island: architectural finishes in early Bermuda

Edward A. Chappell and Kirsten Travers Moffitt

Kalsomine paint: ubitquitous but ephemeral

Mary Jablonski

Conservation research for architectural ceiling paintings in Donghua Men (the east city entrance gate), the Forbidden City, Beijing

Li Guanghua, Peng Weiwei, Yang Hong and Lei Yong

Determining the early 18th-century colour scheme of the Golden Room in the Mauritshuis, The Hague: interpretation issues caused by changes to paint chemistry

Margriet van Eikema Hommes, Katrien Keune, Ruth Jongsma and Carol Pottasch

Exterior colour schemes of historic wooden buildings in the Kassisaba District of Tallinn, Estonia

Claudia Valge

Analytical techniques in architectural paint research: HMS Victory as a case study

Meredith Freeman

Replication of traditional finishes

Challenges in distinguishing ochreous colours: examining differences between ochre and raw sienna and their importance in the context of replicating historical finishes

Anne Milnes

From pigment particles to parlor walls: contemporary practice in the reproduction of historic paints

Erika Sanchez Goodwillie and Christopher Mills

Finding the right yellow: fine tuning a color in Stenton’s Yellow Lodging Room

Catherine S. Myers and Laura C. Keim

Nineteenth- and twentieth-century finishes

W.R. Emerson’s Eustis house: interior decorative finishes of an Aesthetic Movement masterpiece

Amy Cole Ives

The tasteful tenement: forgotten finishes at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York

Stephanie M. Hoagland

The Government Hospital for the Insane: a finish analysis of the Center Building, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, DC

Amanda Edwards

Investigation of paint instability and conservation requirements for decorative auditorium and library ceilings

Nancy E. Binnie, Wendy Baker, Elizabeth Moffatt, Margaret-Ashley Veall, Kate Helwig and Jennifer Poulin

K.B. Hallen: a modernist building in the transition between tradition and industrial evolution

Jo Bornemann Mogensen, Mads Christian Christensen, Martin N. Mortensen and Michelle Taube

Making the traditional non-traditional: the architectural finishes of Frank Lloyd Wright

Dorothy S. Krotzer and Lauren Drapala

‘Derailing’ the myth of Gilded Age decoration in the Grand Isle private railcar: a case study of the painted ceiling panels

Emily Wroczynski, Nancie Ravenel and Chip Stulen

Uncommon finishes

Sgraffito murals in Israel: documentation and conservation

Shay Farkash and Mika Tal

A DDT clear coating and wallpaper for the American home

Judith M. Jacob

New approaches

Investigating architectural finishes and surfaces: using an online documentation tool to examine historical colour schemes

Edwin Verweij and David Edvardson

Experiencing ancient polychromy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s temple of Dendur

Erin A. Peters, Matt Felsen and Maria Paula Saba

Using image processing to understand 20th-century architectural colour schemes

in Singapore

Yeo Kang Shua, U-Xuan Tan, Soon-Tzu Speechley, Lawrence Chin and Achala Athukorala

The on-site pre-embedding of samples for paint cross-sections

Nynne Raunsgaard Sethia

Interpretation of cross-sections to characterize preparatory and design layers and guide decorative paint exposure work

Melissa McGrew

• Edited by Mary A. Jablonski
• Edited by Kirsten Travers Moffitt

'This beautifully illustrated volume is an invaluablereference which should be read by AFR practitioners today.This reading should be accompanied by consultation of postprints from the conference series, especially those papersproviding documentation or on-site tools, discussingprofessional ethics and methodology, presenting client surveysand revisiting earlier AFR reports. These readings can serve asan inspiration to professionals working in architecturalconservation. It is my hope that they could also help clientsand stakeholders understand the basic requirements for anefficient and reliable AFR project, whether it is meant fordocumentation only or for visualizing, preserving, conserving,reconstructing or reintegrating original or period historicfinishes.' 

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