Below is a list of the colors used for the Restoration of the Montpelier Mansion. All of the colors, except for the fence paint, are based on surviving samples of Madison’s original c. 1812 paint. Dr. Susan Buck, the paint conservator who sampled the paint, first used a colorimeter to obtain a CIE L*a*b* notation (CIE L*a*b* color system closely represents human sensitivity to color and approximates perceived color differences. L* is the lightness variable; a* and b* are the chromaticity coordinatesi). After the CIE notation was determined she then matched the color to the closest commercial match for reference purposes. However, when it came time to grind the paint that was to be used in the mansion, Dr. Buck gave the paint grinders a sample color taken from a more accurate Munsell color system. These Munsell chips were then used to match the exact color of the original Madison paint. Modern acrylic paints (Sherwin-Williams “Duration”) were used for the exterior trim. The columns and releaving arches above the wing cellar windows and doors were finished with a lime-based whitewash. The white interior walls and ceilings are also finished with a traditional lime-base whitewash.
Below is a list of all the paints used on the mansion including period names for the colors when applicable (found after the name of the architectural element) as well as the closest commercial match.
Interior Paints
Trim: Cream or Buff
CIE L*a*b Match: L*76.26 a*-.857 b*+14.22
Best Commercial Match: Pratt and Lambert Williamsburg Color Collection #704
Baseboards: Gray
CIE L*a*b* Match: L*49.08 a*- 0.86 b*+3.08
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore #HC-167 “Amherst gray”
Interior Doors: Yellow Ocher
CIE L*a*b* Match: L*60.44 a*+8.52 b*+36.30
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore #2165-30 “Golden Retriever”
Dr. Buck also found that the yellow interior doors were coated with a varnish in Madison’s period and so the yellow interior doors have also been varnished.
Wall Color in North Wing Room (M-100): Ocher Distemper
CIE L*a*b* Match: L*55.92 a*+7.96 b*+31.25
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore # AC-9 “nugget”(Flat)
Wall Color in North Passage (Upper and Lower) and Large Bedroom: Ocher Distemper
CIE L*a*b* Match: L*65.17 a*+3.95 b*+29.57
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore # 2161-40 “acorn yellow” (Flat)
Mother Madison’s Best Room Closet: Prussian Blue
CIE L*a*b* Match: L*52.93 a*-5.89 b*-14.25
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore #HC-151 “Buckland Blue”
North Cellar Kitchen (Dolley’s Kitchen) Trim: Gray
CIE L*a*b* Match: L*46.00 a*+0.60 b*+9.33
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore HC-103 “Cromwell Gray”
South Cellar Kitchen Trim: Gray
CIE L*a*b* Match: L* 64.25 a*-0.48 b*+8.83
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore HC-105 “Rockport Gray”
Southwest Bedroom Door: Chocolate
CIE L*a*b* Match:
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore #HC-64 “Townsend Harbor Brown”
Exterior Paints
Exterior Trim: Buff or Stone
CIE L*a*b* Match: L76.50, a-.33, b +10.46
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore #OC-11 “Clay Beige”
Brown Exterior Doors: Brown
CIE L*a*b* Match: L45.00 a+5.56 b+17.72
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore #HC-73 “Plymouth Brown”
Wing Decking: Spanish Brown
CIE L*a*b* Match: Sample degraded and a only a visual match was made
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore “Country Redwood” Exterior Ready-mixed
Portico Ceiling Paint: Cream
CIE L*a*b* Match: L89.34 a-3.25 b+9.17
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore #OC-135 “cream cloak”
Shutters: Verdgris
The shutters were originally painted with a pigment derived from oxidized-copper called verdigris. Since verdigris is not a stable color (it darkens to an almost black color over time) it is impossible to color match it. To replicate the color Dr. Susan Buck hand-mixed a replica verdigris paint using the different types of pigments she found in Madison-era shutter paint and we matched a color to the replicated paint.
Best Commercial Match: Pratt and Lambert Williamsburg Color Collection CW 423 “Buffet Green”
Fence: Invisible Green
No surviving evidence and color approximates a color called “Invisible Green” during the restoration period.
Best Commercial Match: Benjamin Moore #2041-10 “Hunter Green”
February 14, 2009 at 10:52 am |
to whom,
you do not show the paint color for the exterior body of the house. what’s up with that? i saw a history channel segment on the restoration, and the exterior field looked a fabulous yellow -orange like color. i’m about to build a new house in a historic district in new hope, pa. a few miles north of where washington crossed the delaware. can you be so kind as to tell me what the color is. thanx
February 17, 2009 at 1:22 pm |
Keith,
The exterior of the house during Madison’s time was not painted per se – the bricks had a red wash over them. The color you are describing sounds like the color that the duPonts painted the house (see this page on our website to see the color). The paint was first applied in the early 20th century. Is this the color you mean?
Megan
July 9, 2009 at 2:24 am |
Thanks for your careful and dedicated work in
historic paint colors. You are rock stars
in your field !
I am grateful that you made the commercial equivalent
colors available. Is it at all possible that some
of the ochre colored doors were grained ? Could the
tiny areas you examined have missing glaze or could the glaze have been sanded off when doors were later prepped for repainting ? The ochre seems a good base for graining as I use similar colors all the time. I was not familiar with ochre as a fashion color for doors by itself. Thanks!
July 10, 2009 at 9:28 am |
David, I passed your question on to the Director of Restoration. He said: Our paint analyst found only the base color and no subsequent graining. Some doors did have evidence of a varnish over the ochre finish. I agree that it is a perfect graining base and believe as you do that perhaps that was the intent. These doors received their first coating in 1809-1812 building campaign. George Shattuck visited in 1835 and he noted the three front doors on the portico were painted yellow. It is possible that the color was a graining base that was retained and not grained due to financial constraints that we know were compounding for Mr. Madison from that time on.
July 15, 2009 at 1:41 am |
Thank you for answering my question about the
ochre colored doors and the possibility of that
being a graining base. What, then, do we suppose
the purpose for the varnish was ? Washability
or added gloss ? Protection ? I do not know if
painted doors that are not grained were ever
customarily varnished. Are there other historic
examples of this ? I’m just interested in historic
paint finishes, not questioning your scientific
corectness.
July 16, 2009 at 9:19 am |
We sent your question to Susan Buck, the paint expert who has worked with us on the restoration. She said:
“It is not at all surprising to find elements that receive considerable wear, such as doors, baseboards and mantels, are varnished on top of the original paints. The varnish provides protection, and also adds a measure of gloss to the surface. Sometimes a varnish is mixed into the last coat of paint if several finish coats are applied (you often see this in period paint recipes). The added varnish is the equivalent of our use of enamel paints now.
We did discuss (many times) the possibility that the yellow door paint was a base coat for graining, but there was absolutely no evidence of a graining glaze in any of the samples, nor was a glaze found when I did the layer-by-layer overpaint removal in several areas of the Drawing Room doors.”
September 14, 2009 at 1:12 pm |
Unlike so many other historic sites who withhold their paint colors as if some alchemist’s secret, it is both refreshing and rewarding to see you share your information, in addition to providing their modern equivalents. Such generosity is an invaluable assest to not only the general public, but those as well in the restoration field.
Congratulations – and with deep gratitude!