PAINTED FINISHES

Decorative Painted Finishes have been in existence ever since Paleolithic humans first applied drawings and paintings to the walls of their caves (the cave paintings at Lascaux France are dated at 17,000 years old). The Ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans used paint to decorate carved ornament and flat interior and exterior surfaces 2000 years before the Common Era. At Pompeii one can witness the elaborately painted wall decorations (fresco) beautifying interior walls of the city’s residences that were frozen in time after Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.C.E. Since the beginning of the Christian calendar, evidence found in still standing residential and palatial residences show us that the ancient tradition of painted decoration has continued with a ‘dark age’ happening after the fall of the Roman Empire (5th – 14th c.) and reemerging during the Renaissance (14th - 17th c.). Painted imitations also known as “Faux Painting” or “Faux Finishes” have also been a part of these ancient and modern painted wall decorations. The imitation can be a realistic copy of the natural material it supposes to imitate, or it can be depicted in a decorative, picturesque or naïve manner. They are made from various kinds of paint, used to decorate interiors and furniture, painted on a range of substrates (varying from plaster, wood, textile, metal to paper) and imitate natural materials such as wood, marble, animal skin and exotic minerals. Evidence of residential faux painting dating to the 17th c in Europe still exists in heritage protected European buildings and museums.

The Colonial Building, St. John’s NL, Restoration Project 2022

Here in Canada, where European colonialists erected homes as early as the 17th century, you will be hard pressed to find evidence of faux finishing that predates the late 18th c. The renaissance for faux and decorative painting exploded in the 19th century with artisans refining their techniques and their tools. Itinerant painters would travel around, mixing their own paints and pigments applying them to their client’s homes in a variety of manners. The painter was most likely taught by a European guild painter either before coming to Canada or by a guild painter already settled in Canada. These craftsmen known as painters and decorators knew how to not just paint a wall in opaque colours but also knew the skill of decorative and faux painting. They could stencil, wood grain, marble and gild using gold leaf. Evidence of these finishes can be found in many 19th c. manor homes and political buildings in Quebec, Ontario and the Eastern Provinces.

Marbling, Woodgraining, repair of painted ornament, Colonial Building 2022

OILCLOTHS

Stenciled painted finishes can also be found on remnants of oil cloths found in unlikely places such as closets, stairwells and under layers of floor coverings in these manor homes. Oilcloths predate linoleum and had been popular since the early 18th century. These were stretched, primed and decoratively painted canvas. They were painted using linseed oil paint and were used to decorate and protect floors. They were relatively inexpensive, and many were brought from the United Kingdom to Upper Canada by colonialists, however few have survived.

Remnant of Linoleum, circa 1860
Pinhey’s Point Museum, Ottawa

Linoleum was invented by an Englishman named Frederick Walton in 1855. It is a term used for a smooth floor covering made from a solidified mixture of linseed oil, flax, cork, wood flour and pigments, pressed between heavy rollers onto a canvas backing. They were decorated with elaborate designs using block printing (invented in 1750) and were thicker and more waterproof and durable than the preceding canvas oilcloths. While the advent of the industrial age with manufactured linoleum hurt artisan production, the newly created middle class could afford these floor coverings and the companies creating them proliferated. Most remnants of decorative floor coverings found in homes dating from 1860-1950 would be linoleum. In the 50s and 60s plastics were introduced into floor coverings and the natural materials making up linoleum changed to eventually become vinyl.