A Historical Investigation into Brighton Pavilions Music

Room Panels and their Methods of Adhesion

Martha Swabey
Abstract
This paper provides a comprehensive history of Brighton Pavilions Music Room a stunning
example of Regency interior design with a long and fraught history of dramatic damage and
repair. It details the life of the room and draws parallels between the events that have taken
place and some of the conservation concerns the Music Room faces today.

An explanation of marouflage techniques is used to compare the adhesion methods used in

the Music Room with more traditional practises used to adhere murals and wall paintings on
fabric substrates to solid surfaces. This paper will then offer a brief introduction to some of
the analysis currently being carried out on a piece of the Music Rooms canvas panelling with
the aim to identify the adhesion media.

Introduction
Brighton Pavilion has been in constant use since completion in its current form in 1818.
However, built as a royal palace, it changed ownership and underwent dramatic changes
both architecturally and decoratively. Despite changes, a fairly good record of its life has
been kept. This affords an opportunity to use this historical knowledge to evidence the
conservation conditions we now find and inform future conservation strategy.

This paper focuses on one particular room and its set of canvas panel wall paintings. The
Music Room has undergone changes and events as dramatic as its aesthetic and is now
undergoing constant conservation to preserve the panels.

This paper details the techniques used to create this dramatic room, the people that
implemented them and the story of the conservation that has been undertaken. Some
closer analysis has also been possible to learn more about the hidden techniques and
unrecorded materials. Further analysis is planned which will hopefully add to the knowledge
base, which could inform future conservation strategies.

Marouflage
The British climate has proven largely unsuitable for traditional mural techniques like fresco
damp and large temperature fluctuations mean that alternatives have needed to be
sought. This case study is reminiscent of a technique employed by artists for hundreds of
years although its name is still debated.

To paint onto a canvas and then stick it to a wall is sometimes referred to as Marouflage
(from the French maroufler to stick on/transfer1). This term can also be found, in some
accounts, to mean the transfer of a painting from one wooden support to another.
Marouflage as a method of sticking large panels to walls was predominantly used in the 19th
century as large-scale, architecturally integral artworks, enjoyed a peak. The meanings of the
term have varied greatly as have the adhesives employed to stick the canvas to the wall.

Some pre-19th century recipes called for pitch, wax or resin as a binder to be mixed with red
ochre as the drying medium. Later recipes included the use of animal glue or oils such as
linseed or Venice turpentine to be mixed with lead white pigment or gilders whiting to
promote fast drying. Mr Digby Wyatt, a Fellow of RIBA, warned artists not to employ glue or
paste. The best mode of attachment is to paint the surface to which you have to make the
canvas adhere well with white lead and oil, getting a good body on it, and while still
tolerably green put on a thick coat of white lead with a little gold size, which makes it set
very hard, then paint the back of the canvas with white lead and gold size,2 in a paper read
at the Institute in 1867.

Marouflaged canvas panels had to be applied much like wallpaper the wall had to be
coated with whichever adhesive mixture was chosen and the back of the canvas was also
coated. The panel was then carefully pressed into place and rolled over to squeeze out any
air bubbles or creases. The marouflage medium was generally fairly slow drying so often
tacks were used to nail down the edges of the panel until the adhesive was fully dry.

A benefit to this technique was that the artist could complete the mural piece in-studio and
did not need to work in-situ. The mixtures of lead white and oils or resins also tended to
create a waterproof layer that could protect the painting from any damp creeping up the
walls of the building itself.

This technique was used in Brighton though it is unclear whether the adhesive or techniques
used could constitute the name marouflage or whether the panels were completed this
way coincidentally, for convenience alone.

Brighton Pavilion and its Music Room

In the late 1780s, architect Henry Holland rebuilt a modest lodge into a moderately grand
villa, the Marine Pavilion (see Fig. 1). Rented in the summer by the Prince Regent George IV,
he commissioned architect John Nash to design and build a palatial pavilion in 1815 the
opulent, lavishly decorated building we see today took a number of years to complete3 (see
Figs. 2 and 3).

(Fig. 1 Henry Hollands Marine Pavilion)

(Fig. 2 Nashs faade of Brighton Pavilion)

(Fig. 3 Nashs interior view of Brighton Pavilion)

The new pavilion was built directly on top of older buildings without any demolition this
led to unusual architectural quirks like old faade walls sandwiched between new interior
walls and exterior drainage pipes running through central rooms4. This also meant that wall
widths were not uniform throughout the building and strange pockets of empty space found
between walls and above fixtures.

The Pavilion was decorated in a Far Eastern style the exterior resembled an Indian palace,
complete with domed roofs the interior a mishmash of Oriental influences borrowed from
Chinese and Japanese landscape, art and furniture5.

The Music Room is a large, canvas-panelled ballroom that has had a chequered history.
Whilst suffering great damage at times, these accidents and alterations have allowed unique
access to parts the original decorative scheme, allowing close analysis and examination.

The decoration was produced in 1818 by interior design company, Crace & Co and was
executed by painter Henry Lamberlet and up to 40 assistants. The designs feature imagined
Chinese landscapes completed in yellow and picked out in gold leaf against a deep red
background. The entire effect was supposed to resemble the interior of a lacquer box. The
richness of the panels was matched by the intensely detailed gilded mouldings that covered
the ceilings and edges of the room (see Fig. 4).
(Fig. 4 The Music Room as it looks today as close to what it would have looked like when
it was completed as possible)

The wall panels were painted on fine cambric linen using oil paints. Gold leaf was applied to
the highlights of the yellow subjects (see Fig. 5). The entire panels were then coated with a
red-toned glaze to give the impression of a richly lacquered Chinese box. The imagined
landscapes feature large pagodas rising from lakes with water birds and plants and people
filling the edges of the scenes (see Fig. 6). Decorative paper borders with a latticework
design and stylised ornamental lions were applied to cover the edges of each panel. It is
likely that some of the panels were painted in-situ as their size would have been restrictive,
though there are reports in the Crace & Co account books of large, local ware-rooms being
hired to paint in.

(Fig. 5 Panel detail, gold highlighting visible) (Fig. 6 An entire panel)

To attach the canvases to the walls they were carefully stretched and pinned to wooden
battens at their top and bottom and then paper pasted on top to conceal the vertical joins.
Some small holes can still be seen in lower edges of some of the remounted panels. The
walls behind the panels were simple lath and plaster (see Fig. 7), which was typical of wall
construction of the period, providing an even, flat surface onto which the panels sat.
(Fig. 7 A hole showing the traditional laths and the uneven quality of the plaster)

The Pavilion was inherited by William IV after George IVs death. On Williams death in 1837
it passed to Queen Victoria. Whilst Victoria loved the Pavilions interiors she found the
building too small for her growing family. In addition, she found it too public, located in the
centre of Brighton. Surviving demolition, the Pavilion was sold to Brighton Corporation in
1850. However Victoria had already had the ornate interiors stripped.

When the panels were taken down, some were cut into smaller pieces, and all rolled up for
transportation. Though the panels were destined for Buckingham Palaces interior they
never made it and remained rolled up in storage at Kensington Palace. It is still possible at
certain angles and in strong light to see the horizontal cracks caused by the rolling process
on some panels.

The team carrying out the clearance was from the Department of Forests and Trees an
unlikely group to ask perhaps. Damage was caused by their lack of knowledge and care. It is
said that they were so comprehensive they even stripped out the copper wire from bell-
pulls.

By 1862 it had become clear that the panels were not going to be used to furnish any new
royal rooms. Victoria sent the excess fixtures back to the Pavilion and they were reinstated.
Panels were pasted directly back onto the plaster walls and varnished with copal6 to protect
their paint layers. Victorian interior decorative tastes were much darker and muted than the
vibrant Regency schemes so the application of a dark varnish that dulled the bright reds and
yellows might not have seemed as shocking as it would today.

There is not a detailed account of what was used to stick the panels back up but use of the
word paste suggests some form of wallpaper-suitable mixture. This would tie in with other
rooms, which were wallpapered in lieu of their original canvas panels.
During the First World War, Brighton offered its beloved Pavilion as a makeshift hospital for
injured Indian servicemen serving in the British Army. The Music Room floor was filled with
hospital beds and protective panels installed around the edge of the room to prevent
anything knocking the walls. The Pavilion was thought to have been comfortingly familiar to
the Indian servicemen due to its Eastern styling. This hospital period lasted from 1916 until
1920 (see Fig. 8).

(Fig. 8 The Music Room turned into a ward for injured Indian servicemen during WW1,
notice also the darkness of the walls under heavy Victorian varnish)

By the end of the 1920s the heavy Victorian copal varnish had dramatically darkened and all
but obscured the Chinese landscape designs. This can be seen in the background of the
makeshift hospital ward (see Fig. 8). The surface of the wall panels had become very dirty,
probably resulting from a combination of gaslights, open fires, cigarette smoke and the
accumulated dirt and dust of sixty years. Cleaning was carried out and there are accounts of
buckets of Carmine being poured down the sink7, which would imply that the cleaning not
only removed varnish but also the under-lying, original glaze.

In 1947 the Pavilion Director, Clifford Musgrave, initiated a new restoration project for the
Music Room. Musgrave, along with assistant Roy Bradley, aimed to remove all remaining
varnish, dirt, later over paint and restore the original Regency colour scheme. Over painting
had been carried out throughout the Pavilions life to cover areas of damage or alter the
composition of the panels. An example of this is the ghost of a duck that remains on the
largest panel (see Fig. 9); alleged to have been done by a bored Indian soldier. This sadly
cannot be confirmed and was probably carried out much earlier than the 1920s. It is clear
that the materials used were markedly different to the original pigments as they have
discoloured over time and show up much darker than the surrounding area.
(Fig. 9 An over-painted duck)

Musgraves cleaning methods seem harsh by by todays standards. They used various
concoctions containing Acetone, White Spirit and diluted Ammonia. These mixtures might
appear today to be very strong and inexact but were effective as the copal came off entirely.
Musgrave refinished using mastic varnish with a top layer of beeswax. The fact that
Musgrave felt the need to re-varnish after having removed layers with his solvent mixtures
suggests that the surface finish had been altered by his intervention the effect of the
original glaze layer was meant to give a gloss to the paintings surface like a lacquered
Chinese box saturating the colours but not obscuring the designs. Musgraves need to re-
varnish suggests that the original glossy look had been removed as well. In addition,
Musgraves two-year project predates the 1956 Clean Air Acts and Brighton town centre was
subject to a number of smogs in the 40s and 50s.

Repeated rounds of cleaning with harsh chemicals and solvents have resulted in the original
gold leaf detailing to highlight areas of yellow paint being largely been stripped away; only
some small areas endure. Remaining areas (see Fig. 5) give an idea how opulent the room
would have appeared just after completion with its glossy red surface highlighted with real
gold.

Having reinstated the majority of the Pavilions original features (whether they were
reproductions or original pieces) it came as a huge setback when, in 1975, an arson attack
on the Music Room caused extensive fire and water damage. A window was smashed and a
bottle of petrol with a rag in the top was thrown through the broken pane. The fire caught at
the curtains and quickly spread up the one of the painted panels in the window reveal,
destroying a carved gilded dragon (see Fig. 11) and many of the gilded shells that make up
the elaborate ceiling dome. Thankfully the alarm was rapidly raised and the fire put out
before spreading to the rest of the room. The attending firemen used high power water
hoses (see Fig. 10) and fire and water damage was severe. The room was closed for eleven
years whilst it underwent restoration. The burnt painted panel could not be restored and a
replica made. The rest of the room was cleaned of smoke and water damage and today the
room shows no signs of this destructive incident.
(Fig. 10 Fire fighters putting out the flames) (Fig. 11 Fire damaged corner of the room)

Whilst the room was closed for fire damage and repairs, wider cleaning was undertaken.
Varnishes previously used had discoloured and needed removing again. However, once
again the chemicals used were either too strong or the abrasion too coarse as one of the
corner panels was stripped down to its paler red pigment layer the darker lacquer layer
that remained, was stripped off in big, square patches and work was quickly halted.

Before the Music Room could be reopened, a storm in the winter of 1985 dislodged a stone
ball-shaped minaret from the roof that came crashing through the ceiling of the Music Room
and lodged in the floor (see Fig. 12). The room was only exposed to the elements and the
damage meant that the room had to remain closed until the floor and ceiling could be
repaired and the reproduction, Axminster carpet mended.

(Fig. 12 Stone minaret lodged in the floor of the Music Room)

The Music Room reopened in 1986 and conservation has been on-going ever since from
general cleaning and repairs to wall decorations in the late 80s, to more specific jobs like
consolidating failing plaster behind wall panels in 1996. The state of the walls behind the
canvas panels is of great concern, especially around the lower half of the walls at about
dado-height. These are the principal areas of contact for both people and furniture. The
walls are thin lime plaster on laths but this has been slowly disintegrating, compromising the
canvas that is adhered to it. Where holes in the canvas have exposed the plaster it is clear
that the mixture has a high hair content8 (oxen, horse or goat usually) which can seriously
compromise the strength of a plaster mixture though a small amount of hair acts as a
binder, too much can cause air pockets to form and weaken the plaster layer.

Where plaster has begun to fail the canvas becomes visibly slack and flexible to the touch,
which risks damaging the paint layer by allowing too much movement. Other areas of
plaster failure have formed shallow convex bubbles where the plaster dust and debris has
pooled behind the canvas, disengaging it from the wall structure (see Fig 13). In extreme
cases the plasters disintegration causes tears and holes to form in the canvas as it is pushed
beyond its strength and bursts open (see Fig. 14). These problems have been being
sporadically treated since the mid 1990s. However, only small amounts of panel can be lifted
at a time as folding or flexing the painted panel can be incredibly damaging to the paint
layer. Until a better, large-scale technique is found, work must be done slowly and minutely,
to attempt to stabilise the walls.

(Fig. 13 Area where canvas has been pushed outward by gathered plaster debris, has
become torn and been inefficiently repaired)
(Fig. 14 Area of disintegrated plaster that has torn through canvas)

Inability to close the room to the public poses other conservation concerns. The Pavilion
relies partly on visitor income to fund its upkeep and hosts many paid functions throughout
the year. To undertake a large-scale restoration project on the Music Room would be to
remove one of the buildings star attractions. It is not easy to balance current conservation
PPE and toxicity safety levels whilst maintaining daily public access. Though the Music Room
walls are roped off and the public are only allowed to walk round the centre of the room,
carrying out treatment is problematic.

Preventive measures have been taken to avoid any further damage to the walls public
access is restricted to the centre of the room. Where the doors are located, Perspex sheets
have been erected to create a protective box arrangement. These stand proud of the actual
canvas and extend to shoulder height, preventing accidental or deliberate contact with the
walls. Visitor numbers are limited and sensitively routed through the building to avoid
crowding that could compromise the protective barriers.

Adhesive Analysis
Since the 1975 fire damaged one of the canvas panels, it was taken down and replaced by a
replica. This allowed an opportunity to look closely at the techniques used to adhere the
canvas to the wall without having to remove an undamaged panel and potentially cause
harm.

The panel was visually inspected to see whether evidence of a traditional marouflage
technique was used to glue the canvas to the wall. Usually this would consist of coating both
the wall and back of the canvas with a mixture (recipes vary greatly) of white lead and oils,
which would dry hard and provide a waterproof barrier between the wall and the paint
layer.

One would expect to find a rigid, white coating on the back of the canvas but this was not
visible. There are no accounts of any coating having been removed when the panels were
taken down around 1847 so it is possible this technique was not used during either of the
installations (1818 and 1862).
(Fig. 15 Whole verso of panel piece)

The existing layer of probable adhesive does have a whitish hue, though this appears to be a
bloom on a more translucent layer of material and is neither thick or consistent like a white
lead coating would be. Pencil lines are visible to the naked eye (see Fig. 16) beneath the
adhesive and the translucence and friability of the layer suggests that it could be a starch-
based paste, which would accord with the accounts of the panels having been pasted up in
1865.

(Fig. 16 Visible pencil lines under adhesive layer)

Under UV light the adhesive does not fluoresce in the way that lead white would the areas
of suspected bloom glow whitish but this might only be a reflection of their lighter colour
or even imply that the whiteness is a form of mildew growth that fluoresces when exposed
to UV light waves.
Another possibility is that the adhesive has blanched and turned opaque after exposure to
moisture this is possible due to the fire brigades extensive use of water when putting out
the 1975 fire. Determining whether this is true or not would be helped by determining the
composition of the adhesive. Blanching is known to occur in size layers that are exposed to
moisture; however, another adhesive option could be one that contains animal glue9. This
would support the theory of the whiteness being the result of moisture-caused blanching.

There are a few areas of thicker build-ups of an adhesive-type material, which is very white
in reflected light. White lead use can be discounted in UV light, as these areas appear darker
than any others. If this had fluoresced with a reddish or yellow colour it could indicate lead
white mixed with linseed oil10 (a popular marouflage recipe) but this was not found.

Further analysis must be carried out to fully determine what this adhesive consists of,
though it is possible to rule out traditional marouflage techniques based on photographic
analysis alone. Samples of the adhesive layer could be taken and analysed under a
microscope and cross-sections could be taken and dye-analysed to determine the actual
make-up of the paste used.

(Fig. 17 Verso in reflected light - 1)

(Fig. 18 Verso in reflected light - 2)

(Fig. 19 Verso in reflected light - 3)

(Fig. 20 Verso in reflected light - 4)

(Fig. 21 Verso in UV light 1)

(Fig. 22 Verso in UV light 2)

(Fig. 23 Verso in UV light 3)

(Fig. 24 Verso in UV light 4)

Conclusion
Brighton Pavilion provides a unique vision of the high-Regency style and has one of the most
impressive interiors in the UK. Though it has undergone dramatic changes over its lifetime it
has regained most of its original opulence. However, the conservation process is on going as
the fixtures age and require continued upkeep and restoration.

Such a large-scale conservation project is incredibly difficult to fund and physically complete
in one go. Realistically, it is likely to be an enduring task if we are to enjoy the Pavilion in as
original state as possible. New information, analysis and technological advancements mean
that we can increasingly understand the secrets that the Pavilions structure and decorative
materials are still yielding. This will enable present and future conservators to more
accurately determine appropriate treatment and stabilization plans to ensure that the
Pavilions interiors and exteriors can be preserved accurately, safely and sensitively.

Endnotes
1
Hayward, Judith, Christine Westphal, and Knut Nicolaus. 1999. The Restoration [I.E.
Restoration] Of Paintings. Cologne: Ko nemann.
2
Wyatt, Digny. 1868. Papers Read at the Royal Inst. Of British Architects. Session 1867-68,
London.
3
Roberts, Henry D. 1939. A History Of The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, With An Account Of Its
Original Furniture And Decoration. London: Country Life Limited.
4
Roberts, Henry D. 1939. A History Of The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, With An Account Of Its
Original Furniture And Decoration. London: Country Life Limited.
5
Bristow, Ian C. 1996. Architectural Colour In British Interiors, 1615-1840. New Haven:
Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press.
6
Loske, Alexandra. 2012. Languages Of Colour. 1st ed. Lewes, East Sussex: Frogmore Press.
7
Camine is mentioned in many accounts but analysis is on-going so this cannot be stated as
fact.
8
Shaw, Edward. 1734. The Builder's Dictionary Or Gentleman And Architect's Companion:
Explaining Not Only The Terms Of Art In All The Several Parts Of Architecture, But Also
Containing The Theory And Practice.
9
Wyld, Martin, John Mills, and Joyce Plesters. 1980. "Some Observations On Blanching (With
Special Reference To The Paintings Of Claude)". National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume
4.
10
Carden, Marie L. 1991. "Use Of Ultraviolet Light As An Aid To Pigment Identification". APT
Bulletin 23 (3): 26. doi:10.2307/1504337.