The last decade in Britain has seen a remarkable growth of interest in authentic interior redecoration. The work of the late John Fowler for the National Trust during the 1960sand first half of the 1970s was of considerable importance in awakening enthusiasm, but inevitably raised many questions [1]. Since his death in 1977, more detailed research into a number of topics has been pursued by a younger generation, finding a natural focus at the Department of Furniture and Woodwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, under its former Keeper, Peter Thornton. His pioneer work at Ham House, Surrey, and Osterley Park, Middlesex, although controversial, was of primary importance in creating a new climate for study. It is within this context that my work on historic housepainting must be set. The foundations of it were laid during the period 1975-78when I held the Berger Research Fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York, my brief being to examine the use of paint colour in domestic British interiors from 1660-1830. On starting work, it quickly became clear that there were few coloured architectural drawings for the first century covered by the study, and that whilst a certain amount of work had already been done on collating literary references to colour and the examination of mid-eighteenth-century conversation pieces [2,3], the correct interpretation of these was obscure. There was, moreover, no coherent framework within which such information as had been accumulated could be set. The technical study of historic house-paint had not, however, been attempted in Britain; and it seemed obvious that it was this which could provide the key to a proper understanding of historic practice. Accordingly, the first year of research was taken up by the examination of technical treatises and manuscripts with a view to determining how different types of house-paint were made and applied. In this connection, Rosamond Harley's book on artists' pigments was indispensable [4]. Once the data had been assembled, samples of historic materials were obtained or, in many cases, specially prepared to contemporary formulae (a process which itself required careful research and experiment, coupled with patience and ingenuity). Using these, samples of colour were tinted up in accordance with the practices revealed by the documentary research, and the possible ranges of tints established. The product of this was not, however, merely a series of colour charts, but an intimate knowledge of the working characteristics of each pigment and paint formulation, and the limitations on usefulness of each for different purposes. Some, for example, were suitable for use in only one of the two common media (oil and distemper); whilst a series of fading tests quickly showed up inadequacies in stability. Throughout, it was a delight to see how closely such characteristics matched those described by authors two centuries or more ago. In addition, research was pursued into the effect which the wide range of cost differences between pigments had on colour usage, a factor which proved to have had considerable aesthetic implications [5]. The second year of research was spent on the investigation of surviving paintwork in a series of interiors. This work was based on that of Morgan Phillips at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Boston, Massachusetts [6], and the cross-section technique in use by Josephine Darrah in the Department of Conservation of the Victoria and