Surface Decoration
Looking at Gold, Paint and Varnish
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Visual and historical evidence would indicate that the majority of arms are painted in oils. However, after the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952 acrylic paint may occur.
Sign-writers could be expected to use the standard range of pigments, with a limited use of the more expensive pigments such as ultramarine, orpiment or vermilion. Gold is often used to represent metallic elements, such as crowns and chains, but when cleaning a painting it is also not unusual to find an entirely gilded lion emerge from beneath layers of varnish.
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The Final Varnish
Most paintings were varnished, both to saturate the paint layer and to add a layer of protection. The latter could be particularly important in a church with a bat population, although no varnish has yet been found that can withstand the damaging effects of bat urine.
Paintings would often be “refreshed” by re-varnishing, but over time these layers darken and discolour, ultimately obscuring the image they were intended to enhance. This is especially true of coach varnish, which
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