Artisan Art: vernacular wall paintings in the Welsh Marches, 1550–1650 SECOND EDITION

By Dr Kathryn Davies

• 290 pages

• around 200 colour photos

• Paperback
• 10¼in x 8in (26cm x 20.4cm)

Many ordinary people in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries had art in their homes – not the high art of easel paintings but a humbler form of art painted directly onto their walls, telling us something important about their social and cultural lives.

This wide-ranging and detailed study, the result of many years of research, looks at what this decoration was, how it was done and its significance for those commissioning it. An extensive gazetteer includes photographs of the majority of the paintings, including fascinating details of everyday dress of the time.

Since this book was first published in 2008, further research has taken place, including into the role of wall paintings in everyday life ad the families who commissioned them, revealing more about their significance. Many more wall paintings have been discovered throughout the Welsh Marches and these are included in this second edition.

Contents:

1 The characteristics of wall painting

2 The historical context of housing

3 Social and cultural context

4 The houses and the people who lived in them

5 Practical and technical aspects of wall painting

6 Cost of painted decoration

7 Sources of design

8 Significance

9 Conclusions

Dr Kathryn Davies works as an independent consultant for planning and historic environment issues, including casework for Historic England, historic buildings advice, conservation area work and advising on wall paintings.