608 Conservation of Buildings and Frescoes. [April 12, 



by Sir Edward J. Pojnter, P.E.A. It occupies a recess on the south 

 side of the chancel. The artist had repaired it in tempera not long 

 after its completion, but it subsequently showed signs of more serious 

 deterioration. I found that the usual causes of injury had been at 

 work. Much gas is burnt in the church, some burners being very 

 near the picture. Soot, tar, cobwebs, and dust were first removed 

 from the painted surface ; then the weak places in the ground were 

 strengthened by ceresin, and repairs done in tempera colours. 

 Finally, ceresin was applied to protect the restored picture. 



There are many other cognate topics on which I should have 

 wished to dwell, and other experiments which I should have been 

 glad to show ; but time fails me, and these experiments cannot be 

 completed off-hand. But I may be allowed to state that my warrant 

 for standing here to offer observations on certain methods for pre- 

 serving stone-work and paintings is derived from long devotion to 

 these subjects. Half a century ago I read a paper on the induration 

 of stone before the Oxford Architectural Society, while in January, 

 1862, I treated the same topic in a discourse delivered before the 

 Architectural Association. About the same time I was trying ex- 

 periments on the north front of Westminster Palace. A little later 

 on, about 1865, 1 dealt with distemper paintings in Cirencester parish 

 church and elsewhere. Waterproofing stone with paraffin wax, driven 

 in by heat, was the subject of several trials in the later sixties. 

 Afterwards the great fresco by G. F. Watts, in Lincoln's Inn Hall, 

 was cleaned and repaired. This was in 1890. To the list may be 

 added the works of Ford Madox Brown, in Manchester Town Hall, 

 and other pictures and other buildings in various parts of the country, 

 besides the long series of mural paintings in Westminster Palace. 



I shall be glad if I have said anything to-night which will prove 

 helpful in the preservation of mural paintings and the stone-work in 

 towns, especially in the case of historic buildings. The materials 

 recommended are accessible, cheap, and easily applied. Doubtless 

 there are other preparations available for the same purpose. Some 

 of these may meet those conditions to which the materials I have 

 recommended are not applicable. 



[A. H. C] 



