Dublin Stucco Conference Lecture 2010

Richard Ireland TCD Plaster Conference Lecture
RICHARD IRELAND • PERIOD RESTORATION

TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN 10th April 2010
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PLASTERWORK IN IRELAND & EUROPE
PECULIAR PLASTER: RECENT CONSERVATION OF IRISH EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

MODELLED PLASTER
SLIDE 1
PECULIAR PLASTER
Plate 1. Freehand modelled lime plaster fictive bird from the Entrance Hall at 20 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin.
By an unknown modeller in the team of Robert West c.1757.
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INTRODUCTION
Plaster is an incredibly versatile material. Once a cheap and simple means of simply „ceiling‟
internal and external architectural surfaces, it was to develop to reach its artistic apotheosis in
the 18th Century across Europe. Applied to all kinds of architectural surfaces, it can be
manipulated by skilled modellers to form breathtakingly rich and varied three dimensional
enrichment. It could dramatically frame ceiling and wall paintings or provide the standalone
architectural enrichment. Compared with the expense of carving in stone or timber, plaster
provided a very economical from of decorative enrichment.
-/TCD Lecture April 2010
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SLIDE 2
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Plate 2. Salvaged fragments of one of the two central hand modelled lime plaster masks from the demised 1750‟s
Red Drawing Room ceiling at Uppark House. The salvaged fragments from each ceiling were each laid out on a full
scale drawing within the purpose built Miraclespan building specifically erected on site.
Plate 3. Long lost freehand lime modelling skills are resurrected and learnt afresh as remodelling of the destroyed
Stair Hall ceiling progresses at Uppark house in 1992. The few fragments salvaged from this ceiling are
incorporated in the new restoration work.
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UPPARK
The devastating fire at Uppark House in 1989 provided a significant turning point in the UK for
the practical archaeological research, conservation, repair and reinstatement of in situ freehand
modelled decorative plaster. Previously, where such wholesale reinstatement was ordered, it
would be carried out using moulds and cast plaster to fabricate a replacement. Such methods
provide a very poor aesthetic substitute to the freedom, individuality and three dimensional
expression of the original in-situ freehand modelling techniques.
Many months were spent researching published sources ranging from the ancient translated texts
of Vitruvius, through the late 19th and early 20th Century texts of Millar and Bankart and on to
the more recent work of Geoffrey Beard. This was supplemented by a study of the modern
technical sources covered by the likes of John Ashurst and English Heritage.
The salvage and archaeological research of the surviving plasterwork of the 1750‟s, 1760‟s and
1815 decorative plasterwork and 1805 Garrard sculptures commenced, armed with a mass of
often conflicting information garnered from the existing literature.
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Ultimately, the National Trust resolve to restore, coupled with the insurance position of funding
only being available for total reinstatement, provided a unique opportunity for craftsmen to
relearn the forgotten materials and methods largely unused for more than a century.
The legacy of the 1989 Uppark House restoration, finally re-opened to the public in 1995,
continued to resonate throughout the UK. The lime plastering and modelling expertise acquired
at Uppark found an all too early new project following the devastating 1991 fire at the Grade 1
listed 1742 Palladian mansion at Prior Park in Bath. Following extensive works, including
restoration of the decorative plasterwork, the building was open once again in 1994.
CONSERVATION IN IRELAND
The highest levels of scholarship have long been a solid foundation of Irish academic
institutions, organisations and individual scholars. The physical benefits accrued from Uppark
have taken root in Ireland, helping realise the growing desire for the more sympathetic
investigation and treatment of its many important historic buildings. As a result, the last decade
has seen an expanding roster of projects where the implementation of conservation led methods
and materials could more effectively utilise the plethora of available research of the Irish
decorative arts and architecture. New levels of information are now being unearthed from
technical investigative works ranging from microscopic paint investigation to the physical
examination of the buildings.
The benefits of collaboration across the traditional scientific, archaeological and art historical
fields has continued to advance our study and understanding of many aspects of the historic built
environment, often revealing unexpected results – such as the recent research and reinstatement
of the 1775 Robert Adam designed Eating Parlour decoration at Headfort House, Kells.
Initiatives have been widespread across both the public and private sectors from International,
local government and other specialist organisation sourced funding. This has been key to the
enablement of many conservation based projects, such as the extensive work undertaken at 20
Lower Dominick Street on the north side of Dublin. Likewise, the Office of Public Works built
on conservation led approaches at properties like Speaker Connelly‟s Castletown of 1723.
Dublin City Council have taken similar approaches across a number of important 18th Century
buildings in the heart of Dublin, as has increasingly been the case for other civic authorities
throughout the country.
In the private sector, foundations and trusts have been responsible for implementing high levels
of conservation at such properties as Russborough House in Co. Wicklow built by Joseph
Leeson, later Earl of Milltown, in 1741. The aforementioned Headfort House in Co. Westmeath
commenced in 1757 by Sir Thomas Taylour 3rd Bt., later 1st Earl Bective, has been another high
profile beneficiary. Thankfully this ever increasing list continues to grow influencing
approaches on all types and classes of historic buildings in Ireland.
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SLIDE 3
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Plate 4. Cross-section through a section of collapsed cornice from 1817 built St Michin‟s Church, Smithfield,
Dublin. The illustrated section projects some 400mm with a depth of 300mm. The build up of the different layers
can clearly be seen in the changing textures and colours of the plaster. This cornice seems to have been greatly
extended beyond its original design intention, and the rotting of the timber core that once filled the rectangular void
to the mid-left, was all that provided structural support.
Plate 5. A musical instrument salvaged from one of the 18th Century decorative plaster panels in the aftermath of
the 1991 fire at Prior Park, Bath, England. The lead armature of the neck provided the structural support for the
modelled lime plaster that covered it. The myth that such models were „dipped‟ in plaster and then secured to a
panel is much perpetuated and completely misleading. Not only would the cost of making the model be
considerably more expensive and slower than modelling it in plaster, but the detail so assiduously carved would be
immediately lost if it were to suffer a „dipping‟. Furthermore, such a dipping would have to be in casting plaster,
rarely used for modelling purposes in the UK and Ireland till the latter part of the 18 th Century.
In-situ modelling enabled a freedom to distort perspective for both reducing overall projection as well as creating
the desired foreshortening effects for the viewer from below.
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METHODS & MATERIALS
Introduction
Plastering materials and methods remained largely unchanged over several centuries in Europe.
(Slide 3) In the UK and Ireland decorative run mouldings added to the normal flatwork
treatment from the early 16th Century and was generally executed in lime. The greater brilliance
and smoothness of gypsum was exploited on occasion for high status use, particularly as a more
suitable ground for decorative wallpainting.
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The older methods were gradually ousted during the 19th century by faster setting alternatives
including sand and cement based renders and fibrous plaster. These new technologies were
coupled with the use of cast gypsum plaster enrichment which was ushered in during the late
18th Century.
Lime
Two distinctive material types are generically termed „plaster‟: lime and gypsum. Broadly, till
the latter part of the 18th century, it was lime plaster that predominated.
Lime‟s unique properties, when intimately combined with aggregates like sand, include
plasticity and controlled setting. The inclusion of differing grades of aggregate and of organic
ingredients like cattle hair, modify and adjust performance to suit the work in hand. The
resulting mixture may be used to render walls and ceilings, run mouldings, press ornament and
model in situ.
A lengthy tending period is required for pure lime/sand plasters to ensure suitable setting
conditions and guard against too rapid drying - which could lead to failure through excessive
shrinkage, distortion and cracking. In the UK and Ireland this led to the gauging of plasters with
gypsum (plaster of Paris or casting plaster) towards the latter part of the 18th Century. Its
purpose was to provide a more rapid set and thus control shrinkage and reduce the excessive
care otherwise required whilst speeding up the whole process.
Gypsum
While lime is inherently weather resistant and could be used inside or outside, the same is not
true of gypsum, otherwise known as plaster of Paris or casting plaster . This is a material for
internal use only. It was often used from the latter half of the 18th Century as an admixture
combined with lime plaster to achieve an earlier set and to counteract shrinkage.
Its other chief use was for the casting of decorative ornament, a practice continuing today.
Flatwork
The predominant ground for decorative plasterwork in the 18th Century was lath and plaster.
Internal flatwork on walls and ceilings was traditionally comprised of three layers: a render or
pricking coat, floating coat and setting coat. These could be applied to solid or lathed surfaces.
Substructure
Internally a timber substructure behind ceilings and built out elements like arches are
constructed to reflect the topography of the design and minimise excessive thickness and weight
of features such as running mouldings, ribs and cornices.
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Run Mouldings
Decorative features are built up layer by layer in the same manner as flatwork, but the shapes are
run with pre-cut metal profiles incorporated on a timber frame. This former is known as a horse
and is run against timber rails temporarily affixed, as appropriate, to the flatwork.
„Press‟ Moulding
Shallow low relief decorative elements could be produced by the „pressing‟ (beating) of a stiff,
near dry lime plaster mix into timber moulds. This was especially popular as a method to form
decorative „tiles‟ commonly employed in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
These pressed elements are generally characterised by warping and an unevenness resulting from
shrinkage of the lime. It was not particularly efficient though appears to be a common enough
practice for repetitive embellishment in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
In the 18th Century, the method continued to be used for the pressing of elements such as
modillions and paterae.
Freehand Modelling
Modelling of lime plaster is an additive process by which material is gradually built up from the
surface by the craftsman. This individual hand working of each element enabled the deep
undercut and layering which enriches so many buildings of the late 17th and 18th Century and
distinguishes it from the later technically precise mechanical repetition of cast plaster produced
from moulds.
In the UK and Ireland, freehand modelling predominantly used slow setting mixtures of non-
hydraulic lime plaster. This meant that the modelling of a highly decorative ceiling might be
measured in several months. This circumstance is quite different to the speed of some
continental work, where the use of gypsum vastly accelerated production, and enabled several
rooms to be completed in a few months.
Large projections such as limbs, foliage or instruments required the use of an armature till
adequately carbonated. These can be ferrous, typically wrought iron wire, nails and lead or
organic, such as wood and bone – indeed anything capable of providing suitable support for the
carbonating plaster was used and often became a significant element in later deterioration.
Highly skilled labour intensive hand modelling and pressed moulding of lime common up to the
end of the 18th Century, gradually gave way to the „mechanical‟ casting of ornament, poured in
gypsum, as the quest for economy and taste for less symmetrical voluptuous high relief gave way
to the new wave of taste and economy of repetition.
Casting
Lime plasters comparatively slow, shrinking set could be exploited to create flat surfaces, beaten
into shallow reverse cut moulds to form „press‟ moulded enrichment and manipulated or
modelled in situ by those adept in the „plastic art‟.
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However, the rapid setting time of gypsum (around fifteen minutes from mixing with clean
water) lent itself to the more efficient casting of low relief repetitive architectural ornament.
This typically used reverse carved hardwood moulds, later using the flexible moulding materials
first introduced and developed from the mid 19th Century. Artists studios used more technical
moulding and casting techniques to form models in the round using interlocking piece moulds
for the production of cast statuary and similarly complex subjects.
Mixed on its own with water to a creamy consistency, gypsum is particularly suited to pouring
into low relief moulds. Exploitation of these attributes in the late 18th Century, together with the
rise in popularity of the Neoclassical style, enabled large quantities of repetitive low relief
ornament to be churned out in a fraction of the time taken to model lime in situ. This led to the
rapid decline of the lime plaster modeller as artist craftsman and ushered in the decorative
plasterer as more of a technician. By the mid 19th Century, flexible gelatine moulding materials
allowed a degree of undercut to be achieved in a single cast.
This form of decorative plaster work is not to be confused with the freehand in-situ modelling of
lime plaster that characterises the outstanding undercut and relief of plaster decoration typical up
till the late 18th Century and surviving beyond in local areas.
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SLIDE 4
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Plate 6. A press moulded figure of 1575 in the Earl‟s Chamber at Ormond Castle, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary,
Ireland. This figure enriches the upper section of thin attenuated panels that punctuate large press moulded panels
of strapwork and portrait medallions forming the frieze decorating the room. Such techniques were widely used at
this period to form repetitive elements. The artistic realisation of this form of work is the domain of the wood
carver who would have been commissioned to reverse carve the timber mould used for the pressing. The poor
figurative artistic skills reflect the capabilities of the craftsmen engaged in both the mould carving and modelling at
this period. This lack of artistic prowess was lamented by Sir Christopher Wren in 1694.
Plate 7. Press moulded figure of 1626 in the Stair Hall ceiling at Dorton House, Oxfordshire, England. This
method was applied to the enrichment of rib soffits, creation of friezes and even the fabrication of entire ceilings
using pressed tiles – such as the barrel vaulted ceiling of the Long Gallery at 1607 Chastleton House, Moreton-in-
Marsh, near Oxford, England. Tiles might be anything from 12ins sq. (300mm) to 18ins sq. (460mm).
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BRIEF BACKGROUND TO THE PRE-CONTINENTAL „INVASION‟ IN UK & IRELAND
A common and oft quoted misconception is that prior to the advent of continental craftsmen,
emanating chiefly from the Swiss-Italian borders, there was no native decorative plasterwork to
speak of in the UK and Ireland. Such a proposition is patently untrue. (Slide 4)
The enrichment of interiors with decorative plaster had a long history and development
throughout these two islands. Many native examples predating the 18th Century arrival of
foreign modellers remain, demonstrating the widespread and well established use of modelled
decorative plasterwork for architectural enrichment.
Whilst surviving examples are fewer in Ireland than the UK, there is still high class and
spectacular work to be found, such as the decorative plasterwork of c.1575 of Ormond Castle,
Carrick-on-Suir. Much has been lost, including the ceilings, reproduced in the 1980‟s from
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surviving fragments, but substantial sections of the friezes survive in the first floor rooms of the
Long Gallery, Dining Chamber and Earl‟s Chamber.
Comparison between Irish and English work of the late 16th and early 17th Centuries show the
similarity of technique, style and artistic ability in execution of decorative enrichment. This is
illustrated by the press moulded figures of 1575 at Ormond Castle in Ireland and the similarly
created 1626 figures found in the Stair Hall at Dorton House near Oxford.
In the last quarter of the 17th Century, native modelling had reached a high standard for non-
figurative subject matter. Complex and dramatic foliage featured in many high status buildings
in the late 17th Century typified by the likes of the work executed by Robert Bradbury and James
Pettifer c.1675 at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire in the Stair Hall and Long Gallery in particular.
Edward Goudge, famed as the best plasterer in the land at the time was, carrying out similarly
wonderful decorative schemes of dense naturalistic foliage in 1688 at Belton House in
Lincolnshire.
SLIDE 5
Plate 8. An intricate display of musical instruments decorates the central panel of the Drawing Room ceiling in
Denham Place, Buckinghamshire, England. The work was carried out by William Parker c.1693. Typically, very
slender or intricate elements such as bridges, bows and tuning pegs would be fashioned from wood. Sometimes this
would simply be painted whilst at other times it acted as a former to a thin layer of plaster modelled over. Strings
could be metal or twine.
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Still later, (Slide 5) the work of William Parker‟s stunning c.1693 modelled instruments at
Denham Place, clearly demonstrate the ability of the native plaster modellers to achieve high
levels of artistic merit in arrangement and execution.
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The native modelling of figurative work, however, was poor. Around the perimeter of the
Drawing Room at Denham Place, surrounding the same ceiling adorned with musical
instruments, Parker models the frieze with scenes after Hollar‟s engraving of various hunting
pursuits. (Slide 6)
SLIDE 6
Plate 9. The surrounding frieze of the Drawing Room ceiling in Denham Place, Buckinghamshire, carried out by
William Parker c.1693. One of several sporting scenes based on Hollar‟s engravings of the drawings of Francis
Barlow‟s Several Wayes in Hunting.
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The clumsy realisation of the human form demonstrates the poor skills at handling figurative
work despite the skill displayed for floral and architectural virtuosity.
Sir Christopher Wren wrote to the Treasurer of Christ‟s Hospital in 1694 declaring:
„our Natives want not a Genius but education in that which is the ffoundation of all
Mechanick Arts, a practice in designing or drawing to which everybody in Italy, France
and the Low Countries pretends to more or less.‟
The real advance in figurative work in these islands would have to await the artistry of the
foreign masters who were to arrive on our shores in the next decade.
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SLIDE 7
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Plate 10. A putto modelled by one of the Lafranchini‟s in 1759 gambols from a fruit laden architectural frame on
the Stair Hall walls at Castletown, Celbridge. The exquisite artistry and confident handling of the medium, human
form and arrangement was a far cry from the abilities displayed hitherto of native modeller‟s attempts to master
figurative work.
Plate 11. Earlier work by the Lafranchini brothers of the 1740‟s where one of several putti enrich the deep coving
of the Saloon ceiling at Russborough, Co. Wicklow.
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THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CONTINENTAL „INVASION‟
The outstanding artistic skills of the small group of modellers emanating from the Swiss-Italian
borders swept across Europe and into England and Ireland. These talented and skilled foreign
craftsmen first appear in these islands from the early years of the 18th Century. In England,
payments are recorded to Bagutti from 1710 for work at Castle Howard in Yorkshire , whilst the
first surviving records for Ireland show the Lafranchini brothers arriving somewhat later in
Dublin in 1739.
Other foreign craftsmen were to follow the Lafranchini brothers into Ireland producing equally
dramatic and skilled modelling, such as Barthelemij (or Bartholomew) Cramillion arriving in
Dublin in 1755 to work on the Lying-in Hospital – now the Rotunda.
Interestingly, the survival of Cramillion‟s commission from Dr. Mosse sets out terms and
includes the timescale agreed for completion of the work
“to execute the Stucco work …. In thirteen months”
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Two years later, Cramillion was asked to execute the altarpiece in the Chapel in six months.
The extended timescales are not the experience of the continent where work was achieved at a
brisk pace by utilising faster setting materials, such as gypsum, rather than relying on the very
slow setting properties of lime plaster.
The development of decorative plaster in Ireland was greatly stimulated and lifted by the quality
of work brought in by these foreign artist-craftsmen and was soon to be seen paying dividends.
An unknown modeller undertook the wild and extravagant decorative plasterwork of the walls in
the Stair Hall at Russborough House. (Slide 8)
SLIDE 8
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Plate 12. The startling extravagance of the decorative plastering of the walls of the Stair Hall at Russborough
House, Co. Wicklow have to be seen to be believed. This west end wall is at the half landing where the plaster
drops down to chest height.
Plate 13. The north wall of the Stair Hall at Russborough continues in its bold evolution of decorative flourish. It
incorporates hounds heads – as illustrated, and groupings of hunting implements and musical instruments. The
modelled sheet music towards the upper landing is not fictitious.
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Irish plaster continued to develop assimilating some, but not all, continental styles. Towards the
latter part of the 18th Century, the methods and materials used, changed and developed in
response to the adoption of the more linear lower relief Neoclassical style.
These stylistic changes led to the re-introduction of gypsum – plaster of Paris, in the UK and
Ireland, but this time for casting. In this scenario its benefits could be fully exploited for the
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rapid and economical reproduction of low relief repetitive ornament like runs of egg and dart or
guilloche. Once poured, gypsum is set rigid in around twenty minutes, after which the new cast
can be removed and the mould prepared for another pour.
Once again, carvers were required to provide reverse cut timber moulds to provide the models
used for casting out enrichment. Medallions and roundels became popular features and these
would be produced to order. Casts of the more popular subjects, such as „antique‟ figures could
be found incorporated in many interiors. A cast of the same figurative medallion could be found
at Uppark House in the Little Parlour as well as in a Dublin townhouse. Casting of models
produced decorative enrichment which could be sent out from the works to anywhere it was
wanted.
At this time, the successful architect Robert Adam had developed relations with the firm of
George Jacksons in London and pattern books were available by the 1770‟s from which „off the
shelf‟ decorative enrichment could be chosen, much like today.
Arcing surfaces and high relief subjects were still beyond economical use of cast plaster
moulding methods, and would remain so till the introduction of commercial flexible moulding
materials in the mid 19th Century.
As a result, the latter part of the 18th Century found schemes frequently utilising a combination
of both freehand modelling and cast plaster enrichment. At Headfort House Kells, Co.
Westmeath, the Robert Adam designed Eating Parlour is a substantial 48ft. by 24ft. by 24ft.
(14.4m x 7.2m x 7.2m) Linear, flat backed decorative elements such as the alternating urns and
grapes of the 18ins. (460mm) deep decorative frieze are formed from cast plaster plates, whereas
the series of 26 tripods adorning the deep arcing coving above, are all freehand modelled in situ
using lime plaster.
The fashion for making use of virtually all available surface continued to develop unabated and
could arise in extremely dense schemes a world away from the beginning of the century.
The plaster scheme devised and executed in 1785 by Michael Stapleton still survives within the
interiors of Belvedere College in Denmark Street on the North side of Dublin. (Slide 9)
The use of increasing quantities of cast plaster enrichment to meet the new fashions began the
demise of the artist/craftsmen freehand modeller to be supplanted by the technician.
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SLIDE 9
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Plate 14. Michael Stapleton 1785, Belvedere College, Dublin. The dense development of decorative plasterwork in
the Upper Stair Hall is matched by decorative plaster of similar density in the Lower Hall and on the principal First
Floor ceilings. The colour scheme is modern and should not be mistaken for the original design.
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BENEATH THE ROUGE & FACE PAINT
What lurks beneath the accumulated multiple layers of paint, that so often obscures the quality
and nuances of the decorative plasterwork and originally intended appearance, remains an
„unknown‟ till fully investigated.
The Stapleton interiors in Belvedere College, as is generally the case anywhere, simply display
the most recent decoration. More often than not this might be a supposed „original‟ treatment.
But, in the absence of full archaeological paint research, such a statement is more than likely to
be the result of modern preconceptions of a supposed „Georgian‟ palette. Such concepts are
consumed from as diverse „academic‟ sources as commercial paint manufacturers, living style
magazines and televised period costume dramas. In the latter, it is the short hand affirmation of
the visual cliché matching expected appearances that enables the producer to immediately
convey the intended period without requiring verbal explanation.
Though there can be nothing actually „wrong‟ about presenting such an interior as representing a
clients fashion taste of the time, it is quite another to suggest a scheme as authentic without the
necessary academic and archaeological investigation to back it up.
The recent extended research and reinstatement of the Robert Adam designed decoration of the
Eating Parlour at Headfort House, Kells proved that even when the execution of the plasterwork
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is extraordinarily faithful to the design, the proposed colouring may differ wildly or even, may
not have been executed at all. Whilst the Eating Parlour scheme was found to be based on a mid
green and a dark green with white plaster relief, as depicted in Adam‟s 1775 proposal for
Bective, the 2,000 hours of investigation and hundreds of paint flake cross-sections revealed an
unexpected and idiosyncratic treatment that could not have been guessed.
Likewise, the adjoining Saloon differed in the Dublin plasterer James McCullagh‟s execution of
the plasterwork just by a Vitruvian scroll band breaking from left-handed to right-handed. Yet,
the proposed green and white 1771 decoration has been revealed to be entirely different and is
made up of pink, yellow, cream and a mid green.
THE NAKED TRUTH
In the recent past it has been popular to consider removing unsightly layers of paint to reveal the
supposed beauty and sharpness of detail hidden beneath. However, quite apart from the
potential for physical damage of the plasterwork, the benefits of such a momentous and
irreversible, not to say costly undertaking, need very serious consideration.
Bills from Barthelemij Cramillion‟s magnificent 1755 modelling in the chapel at the Rotunda in
Dublin suggest that the decoration followed convention of the time and that the decorative
scheme was of an overall white with the suggestion of some gilding. Investigation of the
original decoration is currently in hand.
But what of the existing, now dirty and darkened semi-naturalistic polychromatic decoration
carried out by Sibthorpe in 1959 and added to by Keatinge & Sons in 1983. Swags of purple
grapes hanging from brown branches amidst green leaves are lifted by the occasional faded
blossoms of once vibrantly coloured flowers. All this appears against a plain cream background
framed by heavy ribs of mid green downstands latterly „antiqued‟ by Keatinge & Sons. The
figures appear off-white within this 20th Century polychromatic treatment.
The „real‟ decoration for the thousands of women who have passed through the maternity wards
of the Rotunda Hospital over the last few decades, is the current polychromatic decoration. As
an historical document of the original decorative intention it is nonsense. As a sentimental
memory of the calm oasis of the Chapel – it is the existing surface appearance that has current
validity. The „correct‟ scheme is entirely dependent on the statement of presentation.
Ethical considerations aside, the potential losses can be the overriding factor to avoid paint
removal. It is the layer chronology that provides the historic record. The paint is the
archaeological record. Removal of it is tantamount to the burning and disposal of papers.
Without the physical evidence remaining, it is no longer possible to investigate the documented
proposals in association with the executed material. Nor is it possible to re-visit earlier research
unless paint has been deliberately left and recorded in representative areas.
Often it is less damaging to paint on top of what has already been accumulated. With the
historic record intact, there is no actual loss as such, and a room can be treated fashionably,
sympathetically, authentically or even just freshened.
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However, there are occasions where the accumulation of paint – more often the thick and more
permanent formulations dating from the end of the 19th Century, where removal itself provides
the lifeline for decorative plaster so obscured as to be mistakenly considered worthless. Any
expert would be hard pushed to appreciate the cornice revealed in this first floor c.1735 family
parlour in Abbey Street, Dublin prior to paint removal. (Slide 10)
Modern water thinned coatings and the calamitous use of casein bound distempers provide
coatings that are equivalent to many decades of oil based treatments or as is most common,
instigate permanent coatings where once water soluble soft distempers were carefully and
periodically washed off as part of each re-decoration cycle. In the Dining Room at Castletown,
Co. Kildare, the two previous modern schemes on the walls, applied in two campaigns since
1970, account for around 70% of the permanent paint thickness that had been applied in the
previous 240 years.
SLIDE 10
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Plate 15. Paint removal in a small terrace house in Abbey St, Dublin of c.1735 exposes an unexpected treat of
finely hand modelled cornice beneath thick multiple layers of decorative coating. No part of the cornice was cast.
In this case the dentils were hand cut from the still fresh run profile of the main cornice. The waterleaf is created by
use of a thumb mould to run a small profile of lime plaster into the quirk. The spacing and unit lengths of the
elements are then set out – probably marked off using a compass and pencil. Plasterer‟s small tools are
subsequently manipulated to incise, manipulate and impress the still soft plaster bead to rapidly and economically
form the waterleaf enrichment.
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The benefits of paint removal in this extreme case are clear for all to see and appreciate. A
responsible approach to the needs and reasons for paint removal is essential if the historic record
and the decorative plaster itself is not to be lost and unnecessarily damaged.
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SLIDE 11
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Plate 16. 20 Lower Dominick Street façade. Acquired by Robert West as two plots and completed c.1757
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20 LOWER DOMINICK STREET, DUBLIN
Situated in the then fashionable Dominick Street, No 20 was built by Robert West on two
adjacent plots with typically plain and unadorned façade, but for the quoins and doorcase.
It is one street to the west of the Rotunda Hospital where West had worked on the Stair Case
ceiling and Gallery Soffits of the Chapel – getting paid in 1756. He must, therefore had contact
with Barthelemij Cramillion who commenced there in 1755.
No. 20 became the school for the Parish of St Mary‟s in the 1850‟s and was later occupied by the
Dominicans in 1927 who ran it as an orphanage. Latterly it was secured by the National Youth
Federation in the 1990‟s who still occupy the premises.
Till 1957, Dominick Street was the grandest surviving Georgian street north of the Liffey. In
1958 all the south half of the street was demolished to make way for flats. These are currently in
the process of being demolished.
The outstanding and much celebrated feature of Dominick Street is the Stair Hall‟s spectacular
assemblage of wild fantastic birds set amidst half figures, musical instruments and
extraordinarily attenuated foliage that twines its sinuous way across the ceiling in great
profusion. Veritable haute couture plasterwork. The work seems to belong to one of the team
rather than West himself, and appears to be the same hand responsible for the adjacent Saloon.
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SLIDE 12
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Plate 17. Lafranchini influenced modelling with Boucher putti for the Saloon on the First Floor.
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The First Floor Front Reception at Robert West‟s Dominick Street has a style in imitation of the
Lafranchini brothers but using putti derived from Francois Boucher‟s Premier Livre de Groupes
D’Enfans. The ceiling is one of several of varying styles within the building. (Slide 12)
All the work is of hand modelled lime plaster without the use of the cast gypsum plaster
elements that were to feature later in the century.
Note, that though quite able, the handling of the human figure falls short of the expressive
modelling of the accomplished Lafranchini brothers. Instead, the face has a pedestrian and
rather solid quality at odds with the mid air depiction.
It is very rare indeed to find decorative plasterwork signed by the modeller – especially in
Ireland and the UK. The situation is not helped by the thick covering of paint layers that have
generally accumulated over the centuries further obscuring such signs if present.
However, painters signatures can be found from time to time left in generally out of reach places
like on the upper edges of cornices or overdoors. Exposed painters signatures have been found
at Headfort House dating back as early as 1822.
A list of decorators signatures are to be found on the cornice in the Library at Russborough
House dated 1884.
18
SLIDE 13
18
Plate 18. The French styled decorative modelling of the Ground Floor Front Reception at Dominick Street with
period dressed bodice clad female, parrots and vases of flowers.
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The Ground Floor Front Reception is dimensionally of the same area as the Saloon which lies
directly above. (Slide 13)
Here the influence is manifestly French but the craftsman is different and less able than the
modeller who carried out the work in the Saloon above and adjacent Stair Hall. Here, as above,
the foliage elements are handled with aplomb, whilst the emergent period clad figure once again
suggests a lack of lightness and training in the handling of the human form.
It is worth noting that the parrots modelled in this room are perfectly serviceable, but also hardly
light up the overall modelled ensemble.
19
SLIDE 14
19
Plate 19. Venus reclining on a dolphin in the First Floor Rear Reception at 20 Dominick Street shown as a before
and after compilation of the green pre-conservation ceiling and the completed post-conservation result.
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Such is the obscuration of detail and distortion of relief by the erroneous use of a contrasting
background colour to the modelled plasterwork, that it is impossible to correctly read either the
subtleties of the work or indeed the subject matter with any clarity. (Slide 14)
Such „picking out‟ of decorative relief, at best serves only to accentuate the overall pattern of the
plasterwork, but completely kills all sense of the three dimensionality and relief of the subject
matter. The subconscious registering of a strong overall symmetrical pattern provided by such a
contrast kills the urge of the eye to extend exploration and so further diminishes interest and
awareness of the individuality of each and every part.
In his book on Dublin Decorative Plasterwork, written in 1967, C.P. Curran correctly identifies
Venus on a Dolphin, but is sufficiently mislead to identify the agglomerated green bounded mass
beneath as a rock rather than the swirling ripples and currents of the sea.
With the obscuring layers of paint removed, it is found that the ripples gradually fade out across
the ceiling ground.
The last decorator, that of the green scheme, has also perpetuated the loss of Cupid‟s wings.
In this case, the combination of inappropriate decorative treatment allied to poor painting skills
has severely undermined the aesthetic quality of the modelling and thereby its apparent value.
20
SLIDE 15
20
Plate 20. A poorly repaired damaged bird in the Stair Hall at Dominick Street prior to commencing the extensive
conservation work and paint removal of the decorative plasterwork.
------------0000000-----------
By virtue of the cost of erecting and maintaining a full scaffold up through the Entrance and
Stair Hall, an operation no less awkward and costly today than at any other time, the
maintenance of the plasterwork and decoration has been less regular than other more accessible
areas. This is typical for most such interiors. Permanent „washable‟ casein bound distempers
had been applied in the late 19th Century. (Slide 15)
The principal birds in the Stair Hall project up to 18ins. (460mm) from the background and so
have been very vulnerable to clumsy work or indeed, well aimed errant children‟s missiles.
Like the ceiling depicting Venus and Cupid with the dolphin, it is impossible to appreciate the
finesse and extraordinary attention to detail hidden beneath such an enveloping blanket of heavy
paint.
Likewise, the deep yellow coloured background to the ceiling and coving, which changed at a
string course to a paler yellow for the walls beneath, does little to assist in reading the drama
unfurled on the walls and ceiling, and only serves to obscure and mask the substandard
brushwork and repairs.
21
SLIDE 16
21 22
Plate 21. Paint removal reveals the curlew like beak and attention to detail of one of the principal Stair Hall ceiling
birds. The heavily incised modelling of the eye ensures deep shadow and contributes to the lifelike aspect. Note the
long and slender modelling of the beak.
Plate 22. A partially stripped leaf on the Stair Hall ceiling reveals the thickness of the casein bound distempers first
applied in the late 19th Century. The original decorative coatings were „soft‟ distempers which are soluble in water.
These would be washed off and removed at each subsequent decoration thereby ensuring detail was never obscured
by excessive build up. The exposure of vulnerable projecting ornament to the painters washing down would
inevitably lead to some damage depending on the care, quality and skill of the decorator.
------------0000000-----------
Beneath the thick accumulation of paint, the modelled plasterwork of the Stair Hall ceiling is
revealed in exquisite detail. The modeller‟s mastery of form and economy of line can be seen to
great effect on all areas of the decorative plaster. (Slide 16)
Note that both the birds projecting neck and slender beak are modelled over armatures formed
from twisted wrought iron wire.
The change from the use of water soluble distempers to more permanent coatings is an inevitable
response to measures aimed at reducing overall decorating costs. Washing down distempered
surfaces is a particularly messy and relentless operation as anybody who has had to do it can
attest. The availability from the late 19th Century of new permanent casein bound materials
known as „washable‟ distemper, precluded the physical need for removal of the previously
applied coating.
Much of the clogging up and loss of decorative plaster detail by paint commences at this time.
22
SLIDE 17
23
B
Plate 23 A detail of the cornice in the Ground Floor Front Reception that contains the French styled ceiling with
bodice clad females figures, parrots and flower filled vases. Note the change in quality of the hand modelled
waterleaf enrichment revealed by paint removal. Master modeller to the left of the blue arrow and apprentice to the
right of the red arrow.
------------0000000-----------
Paint removal has revealed other interesting details otherwise obscured and easily missed. The
cornice in the Ground Floor Front Reception clearly shows the work of more than one modeller.
The change of waterleaf style and quality highlights the technical disparity between the more
able modeller and his less skilled accomplice. (Slide 17)
Two walls of the room are executed with the waterleaf style to the left of the blue arrow (A).
The other two walls of the room exhibit the inadequate, shallow and poorly realised modelling
detail to the right of the red arrow (B).
It is interesting to observe that at the two junctions of the differing work in opposing corners of
the room, the higher quality work is brought around the mitre to provide a helping example to
the new hand. Right from the start, the setting out and spacing of each full waterleaf unit can be
seen to be too short. Quite how the poor quality of this lesser work was allowed to remain is a
question that could only be answered by West or his foreman and supervisor.
It is often possible to detect more subtle nuances and quality changes in the execution of
modelled plasterwork, but rarely possible, if ever, to be able to reliably account for the actual
number and status of modellers employed for a piece of work.
Whilst Cramillion needed 13 months for the work within the Rotunda chapel, it is unlikely that
he was working without the aid of a team who would at least do the flatwork and run ribs.
23
SLIDE 18
24
Plate 24. Belvedere, Co. Westmeath. A dragon modelled by Cramillion in the Dining Room ceiling with delicately
incised background details revealed following paint removal.
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An early and inevitable casualty of paint build up on decorative plasterwork are delicately
incised background details often only exposed by paint removal. The incised ground of
Cramillion‟s 1760 dragon at Belvedere, Co. Westmeath, was completely hidden. (Slide 18)
However, it is important to remember that the use of inappropriate materials and poor technique
can cause irreversible damage to the original work that cannot be recovered at a later date.
The programme time and expense involved frequently leads to the drive for more „effective‟ and
economical measures where such a course has been decided.
Inevitably, such commercially driven work is generally undertaken in an ill-considered and too
hasty manner based on the merits of „sharpening‟ the detail.
24
SLIDE 19
25
Plate 25. Deep incisions outlining the modelled enrichment accentuate definition and add detail in the First Floor
Rear Reception „Venus‟ ceiling at Dominick Street. Note the „flat‟ flower outline revealed to lower centre. The
flower outline is matched by its pair on the opposite side of the ceiling.
------------0000000-----------
The use of deeply incised lines to catch shadow and thus highlight decorative elements of very
low relief was common practice in the techniques of the continental modellers. Clearly, Robert
West and his team at Dominick Street were au fait with the technique which they had adopted to
good and subtle effect drawing out leaf tips into the background and lending added crispness to
the modelled enrichment. (Slide 19)
The incised flat flower, and its opposing mate, are the only examples found in Dominick Street
of modelling without any relief at all. The depth and width of the incised line could easily have
been filled in by the modeller if there had been a change of mind about its use, but clearly was
left visible. The overlying white „soft‟ distemper of the original decoration would have no more
effect in hiding the outline than the conserved and reinstated ceiling illustrated.
25
SLIDE 20
26 27
Plate 26. A collection of musical instruments on the Stair Hall ceiling at Dominick Street as paint removal is
commenced. The original bow has already been removed for safe storage but the bridge and strings had been lost
long before.
Plate 27. The same collection of instruments following the long and extensive paint removal, repairs and
reinstatement. Note the fictive musical notation revealed and the aesthetic benefits of reinstating the plain white
monochromatic scheme determined by the microscopic cross-sectional paint investigation.
------------0000000-----------
Important physical details were revealed in the paint removal of the Stair Hall ceiling at
Dominick Street. The surviving bows of the four groups of musical instruments were all found
to be carved softwood timber. The bows were formed well enough to require only painting over
and did not act as an armature or former for the modellers plaster. (Slide 20)
Bridges to the pair of violins and violas were similarly formed from a piece of softwood
complete with stylised cut outs.
Tuning pegs were roughly made timber, but quite sufficient for their purpose given the height of
the ceiling from the viewer.
Strings had been formed from twine, the remains of which were found embedded in plaster and
paint. Their recreation flowed the original, but used a rot resistant modern twine.
Note that the musical notation is nonsense and meaningless. This is unlike that found at
Russborough House on the Stair Hall where the modelled music sheet represents a well known
piece of musical notation.
26
SLIDE 21
28 29
Plate 28. Russborough House, Co. Wicklow, Stair Hall ceiling of c.1750‟s depicting the standard broad leaf
acanthus style of ceiling centre common during the middle the 18th century.
Plate 29. The extraordinary and unmatched attenuated style of acanthus ceiling centre adopted by the modeller in
the 1757 Stair Hall ceiling at Dominick Street.
------------0000000-----------
The decorative plasterwork executed by West‟s modeller in the Stair Hall at Dominick Street is
quite without parallel in Ireland or the UK – it appears to be quite unique altogether. The
excessive attenuation of the style is most obvious in the centre piece. (Slide 21)
Where the commonplace style of the period was for broad, flat acanthus leaves – as typified by
that in the Stair Hall at Russborough (Plate 28), the treatment in the Stair Hall at Dominick
Street is for sinuous tendrils of acanthus barely seeming to touch the ceiling in a highly stylised
variation of the normal manner of modelling acanthus. (Plate 29)
Each tendril is modelled around armatures of twisted wrought iron wire anchored in the centre
section with heavy and long wrought iron nails and coach bolts. There is also additional support
given by large nails where the radiating leaves touch the ceiling at their mid-point.
Equally distinctive are the highly attenuated deeply projecting clasp or cartouche devices on
three of the walls. Each is different, and as highly stylised as the centre piece acanthus.
27
SLIDE 22
30
Plate 30. One of the wild and fantastic birds taking flight in a corner of the Stair Hall ceiling at Dominick Street
modelled with great exuberance and skill mid-squawk and clutching a trailing vine.
------------0000000-----------
The attenuated centrepiece and other aspects of modelling discussed and illustrated thus far at
Dominick Street are barely noticed by the new visitor when first exposed to the sheer
exuberance and visual feast of the Stair Hall ceiling. (Slide 22)
Pre-eminent in the ceiling are the magnificent fictive birds – all twelve of them, with a further
seven projecting from walls perched on console brackets.
The largest birds are in each of the four ceiling corners and are all modelled in flight clutching
trailing vines in their claws. Their long open beaks, deeply modelled eyes and highly varied
energetic, though convincing, contortions keep the beholder transfixed.
The equally varied and contorted secondary birds symmetrically disposed across the ceiling are
no less enjoyable, where groups of instruments, eight near full size half figures at each corner of
the deep coving and abundant luscious fruit and foliage compete for attention.
28
SLIDE 23
31
Plate 31. The rich exuberant modelling of birds, flora and architectural devices is continued down the walls of the
Stair Hall at Dominick Street. Seen here is the view from the wide landing to the wall opposite.
------------0000000-----------
The dramatic haute couture decorative plasterwork of the Stair Hall at Dominick Street remains
as individual and unique as ever and certainly worthy of the term peculiar. The modelling of
several „bird‟ ceilings across Dublin has led to their association with a particularly native Irish
style of the period. (Slide23)
Fortunately, the fierce and fantastic birds of 20 Dominick Street escaped the sweeping
demolition of the southern half of the street in 1958. The building has had the further good
fortune to have been the recipient of generous funding that has enabled the conservation, repair
and preservation of this magnificent plasterwork for future generations to enjoy.
Richard Ireland BA (Hons) FRSA
29

Dublin Stucco Conference Lecture 2010

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Richard Ireland TCD Plaster Conference Lecture

RICHARD IRELAND • PERIOD RESTORATION

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PLASTERWORK IN IRELAND & EUROPE

PECULIAR PLASTER: RECENT CONSERVATION OF IRISH EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

METHODS & MATERIALS

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

BRIEF BACKGROUND TO THE PRE-CONTINENTAL „INVASION‟ IN UK & IRELAND

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CONTINENTAL „INVASION‟

“to execute the Stucco work …. In thirteen months”

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

BENEATH THE ROUGE & FACE PAINT

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

THE NAKED TRUTH

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

20 LOWER DOMINICK STREET, DUBLIN

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

Richard Ireland BA (Hons) FRSA

-/TCD Lecture April 2010

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