Walls in the late 1800s

Several years ago, a curious restorer found elaborate trompe l'oeil walls in the Governor's mansion in California.



From the news release in 2007:



Ornate wall decorations from the late 1800s, that had been covered over and forgotten in the early 1900s, were discovered by a curious restoration specialist on his lunch hour.



The walls he had just primed and prepared for yet another layer of 1950s wallpaper, held a secret. The clue was a piece of plaster crown molding he found earlier inside a false walled-in enclosure, resting atop a water tank. The lavender and sage stripes contrasted with its tan base coat, which was set apart from a faded baby-blue stripe a few inches over. Nothing else like it existed in the house. Where did it come from and why was it here? He wanted to solve this mystery.

Back in the main room, Restoration Work Specialist Tim Gellinck, of California State Parks, took a bit of denatured alcohol to one corner of a wall. As he carefully rubbed away years of primer, plaster and paint, a sliver of pink began to appear. Then came white scroll work with a tan base coat and he knew that he found something rare and valuable.

He discovered that the walls and ceiling had originally been painted to look like moldings, recessed ceilings, frames, and wood carved scroll work. The paint style made to fool the eye, or trompe l’oeil (TROMP LOY), also included carom billiard balls and cue sticks at one end of a room’s ceiling, now thought to be the billiard room.




You can read more about the restoration at the California State Parks website, which is where I got these pictures.

But you gotta wonder, who were these painters? -- the molto bene wife