PAINTING (Housr) is one of the useful arts, combining much that is artistic with much that is absolutely necessary. The primary object of painting houses, or parts of them, either internally or externally, is to preserve them from decay—to cover the parts liable to suffer from exposure with a dumble composition. That now used is made of ground white-lead mixed with linseed oil. This produces white paint, which forms the basis of all others. The various colors given to it are produced by the grinding of pig ments (or stainers) along with the white-lead. The commonest of these are ochres (yellow and red earths), lampblack, Venetian red, umber, Prussian blue, chrome, vermillion, etc. Substances called driers are also mixed with the paint, such as spirits of turpentine, boiled oil, litharge, and sugar of lead ground in oil. Paint may be laid on any material —stone, wood, iron, and plaster being the most usual in buildings. It has the effect of preserving these by filling up the pores in them and forming a coating on which the moisture of the atmosphere does not act. The paint is laid on in several coats or layers, each being allowed to dry before the next is applied. The usual number of coats for new wood or plaster varies from three to six. Five coats form a good and lasting pro tection from the weather. Plain painting is generally finished with a coat prepared with a mixture of oil of turpentine, which takes off the gloss from the paint, and leaves the surface quite mat or dead. This is called flatting. A very common form of decoration
in all ages has been to imitate the veins or colors of marbles, and the grains or marks of growth of various woods. In modern times these arts form a separate branch of house= painting, some men being grainers, others marblers, etc. The mode in which these imi tations are produced is by forming a grounding of several coats of plain paint—usually four—and applying the coloring coat over this. In marbling the' coloring matter is marked and veined with feathers, in place of brushes; and in graining steel combs are used. When the surface is dry it is protected With one or more coats a copal varnish.
Besides painting, the decorator uses paper-hangings for adorning the walls of houses. These are applied to the walls with paste. Size-coloring is also used, the coloring mat ter in this case being mixed with strong size (q.v.) in place of oil; but this has the'disad vantage of being easily acted on by moisture. It is often used for the ceilings of common rooms, and for the walls of kitchens and 'servants' apartments, being much cheaper than oil-paint. In ancient times, in Greece and Rome, wax was used in mixing the colors with; but although there are many very fine specimens of 'Roman paintings still preserved on the walls of the houses of Pompeii, the mode in which these decora tions were applied is not known