To discover a date range for the fragments of wallpaper found in the nest, the Restoration Team turned again to paint conservator Dr. Susan Buck. Similar to paint, wallpaper can be given an approximate date by determining what kind of paper it is printed on and what kind of pigments were used in its paint. In the case of paper, in order to date to the Madison era the wallpapers would have to be made out of cotton, flax, or hemp fibers instead of more modern processed wood fibers. Because pigments have also evolved through time, the identification of modern, industrially produced pigments, such as chrome yellow and zinc white, would also indicate that the paper did not date to the Madison era.
©The Montpelier Foundation and Susan Buck
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The pigment chrome green, or viridian, is seen in the photo on the left. Because this pigment was first produced in ca. 1838, any wallpaper that uses chrome green has to date to after ca. 1838. On the right is a photomicrograph of a sample of wallpaper made from flax fibers. Flax and hemp fibers were used almost exclusively for wallpapers for hundreds of years and it was not until the middle of the 19th century that papers started to be made from wood fibers. While wood fiber-based papers currently dominate the market, flax fiber papers are still produced. |
