Interior. Detail of D R Hay patent imitation damask wall treatment in drawig room. Digital image of C 54062 CN.

Description Interior. Detail of D R Hay patent imitation damask wall treatment in drawig room. Digital image of C 54062 CN.

Date 5/1995

Catalogue Number SC 772451

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 54062 CN

Scope and Content Painted wall in the drawing room, Newbattle Abbey House, Midlothian The walls of the drawing room are painted using 'D R Hay's patent imitation damask treatment'. This involved painting a lighter colour onto the walls and dragging a steel graining comb through the wet paint to create a 'woven' effect. The darker pattern would then be stencilled on top, with sand mixed in with the paint to give it a matte effect. The edges of the fake 'damask' are held down by a gilded 'fillet' or band which would conceal the tacks on a real piece of material. The decoration of this room was completed by the painter Thomas Bonnar (1810-73) shortly before the death of the 8th Marquess of Lothian in 1870. This large room with its fine proportions and complex colour scheme was designed to show off the marquess's art collection, upon walls painted 'citron olive', thought by Bonnar to be the perfect colour against which art should be displayed. Newbattle Abbey was founded by Cistercian monks in 1140, and its church dedicated to St Mary in 1233-4. It became a private residence in 1587 when the last abbot, Mark Kerr, converted to Protestantism and was able to retain his lands. His son became Lord Newbattle in 1596. The remains of the abbey are built into the surviving house, which was modified and rebuilt by the architects John Mylne (1650), William Burn (1836) and David Bryce (1858). The house was gifted to the nation in 1937 to be used as a further education college. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/772451

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap