The Use of Colour ca. 1700-1820 with Patrick Baty

During this lecture, Patrick Baty will discuss the conventions behind the application of paint and show examples of correct usage in recently restored 18th century houses, such as the Benjamin Franklin House, one of the few in which redecoration was based on analysis of the painted surfaces, and which best illustrates early practices.

The colours being offered in the 1740s, and the importance of their hierarchical nature, will be explained.

During the 18th century ready-mixed paint colours were sold by the colourman, which allowed them to increase their output and lower their prices.

Patrick will show an example of the aids used by the painter to help the client select paint colours and illustrate some of the results that he has achieved using an original collection of colour cards.

He will finish by showing a few of the magnificent projects that he has worked on and present some of his work at Stowe House.

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Patrick is interested in the decoration of historic buildings. His work covers research, paint analysis, colour & technical advice. Projects have covered a 400-year period and have ranged from King Henry VIII’s heraldic Beasts; Baroque churches; country houses; wartime RAF stations and London social housing estates to major structures such as Tower Bridge. He also works in the USA.

In 2007 his company was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen for his work with colour.

He lectures on a variety of subjects and has published numerous articles, also contributing to and revising several books on colour and decoration. In 2017 his The Anatomy of Colour was published by Thames & Hudson, who also published his Nature’s Palette in 2021. He and his wife run the family business Papers and Paints, in London.