Decorative Plasterwork in Great Britain

Decorative plasterwork was created by skilled craftsmen, and for over four hundred years it has been an essential part of the interior decoration of the British country house. In this detailed and comprehensive study, Geoffrey Beard has created a book that will delight the eye and inform the interested reader. For those who have sometimes been puzzled by the complexities of plaster decoration it will be a most useful work of reference on a fascinating art form, about which no book has been published for nearly fifty years. After discussing the part that patrons played in commissioning and financing these beautiful decorations, a useful chapter is devoted to materials and methods of work and here the author describes the ingredients of good plaster; he has studied the work of present-day English plasterers and Swiss stucco-restorers in order to establish precisely how the materials of plaster and stucco were composed and used.

Table of Contents:
Preface; Acknowledgments; MAGNIFICENT BUILDING; The urge to build, income and costs, sources of income; MATERIALS AND METHODS: Raw materials and equipment, plaster, hair, sand, laths, stucco, armatures, tools, moulds, methods of work, guilds, apprentices and craftsmen; WROUGHT WITH PLASTER, 1500-1600; THE BEST MASTERS, 1660-1702: The Office of works, the principal officers, The Master Plasterer; Official projects, Whitehall to 1685, Newmarket, Windsor Castle, the City Churches, St Paul's Cathedral, Winchester, Whitehall: the Chapel; Hampton Court, Kensington Palace, Greenwich Palace, Private Patronage; ADORNED WITH STUCCO 1702-1760; CLASSICAL COMPOSITION 1760-1830; PLASTERWORK IN SCOTLAND; Notes; Plates; Select List of Plasterers; Biblography; Index of Places; Index of Persons.

About the Author :
Geoffrey Beard, Jeff Orton, Richard Ireland

Review :
It is still an indispensable guide to plasterwork. Geoffrey Beard added substantially to the literature. Since its publication its relevance has increased as the need to understand the history of plaster became quite urgent... There is no other book that compares to Decorative Plasterwork in Great Britain for its authority and comprehensive treatment of the subject... Any academic, artist, craftsperson or architect will benefit from reading it and should have a copy of their own. Journal of Architectural Conservation This was an important study which, for its breadth of coverage and appreciation of craftsmanship, has never been superseded... [it] is a direct reprint of the first edition, with the addition of a short foreword by the contemporary plasterer Jeff Orton and a longer introduction by the decorative conservation practitioner, Richard Ireland, who worked on the restoration of the plasterwork at Uppark. Ireland provides a very useful and succinct summary of the advances in technical knowledge that have taken place since 1975, covering materials, techniques and good conservation practice... This is an excellent introduction to the craft, which has largely stood the test of time. It is strongly commended to a new generation of readers. Context, May 2011