restoration works of the sgraffito. In fact, the entire building was covered in sgraffito motifs and decoration and putti, designed and carried out by Moody and his students. At the same time as the South Kensington revival, in Devon another enthusiast, Rev. Radford realised that he could use sgraffito to suit his purpose. He wanted to decorate the plain white walls on the interiors of churches with colour and saw sgraffito as an economical way of achieving his goal. So gothic motifs in three colours, as seen for example at StJohn's, Colaton Ralegh, were applied to the walls and remain there today. It has been recently restored. Victorian enterprise in building design and manufacture meant that solutions that were imaginative, used accessible materials, and were not costly, would always be reproduced. The contractors Trollopes (now Kvaerner, Trollope and Coils) attempted to popularise the use of sgraffito, proposing it for use on the outsides of hospitals and other buildings. But it never gained widespread support and the architects of the 'Cole' years did not continue with the technique. An example of the commercial use of sgraffito, still in remarkable good condition, is a Dairy in Islington. Seven graphic panels highlight the production and delivery of fresh milk. A turn of the century work, it is not (yet) known who the artist might be and it is unmissable if you visit north London. It was not until the advent of Heywood Sumner, an Arts and Crafts artist, that sgraffito developed from panel-type decorative Renaissance motifs to pictorial representations. His work, spanning the years from about 1885 to 1906, was carried out mainly in churches. He used four or five colours and included mosaics and stained glass in the overall designs. Sumner's work is oflasting fascination, but demolition and overpainting have left us only half of his output. If there is one building to visit it should be St Agatha's Basilica in Portsmouth. The art of sgraffito died down when Sumner stopped work and it seems that not until after the two world wars did it make a comeback. A sgraffito panel was designed for the Festival of Britain in 1951 and one or two panels for schools were produced at about the same time, but these are unlikely to have survived. Because there are so few remaining examples, it is essential that the work is conserved. Issues relating to the philosophy of conservation for sgraffito will raise the questions of restoration and repair and the extent to which the Context59 September1998 St John's Church, Coloton Raleigh, Devon. work should be restored or conserved. It is a matter of the degree of intervention. Considerations of existing condition, costs, accessibility and the amount of information available must be part and parcel of the decisionmaking process. But there are other matters which may surface. One of these is the importance and expectations of the client and the public, especially if they have contributed in some way towards the conservation work. Their mindset is likely to be one of complete restoration and unless they are advised and consulted before work commences, disappointment may ensue. Dangers to remaining sgraffito decorations exist and should be assessed when a scheme is going to be repaired. Is St Agatha's Basilica, Portsmouth. the problem likely to recur? For example, the salts formed from uncontrolled rising damp on internal plaster walls will damage sgraffito, if the cause is not tackled and repaired correctly; structural problems can cause cracking plasterwork; externally, attack from pollutants and chemicals can caused flaking; additional applied coverings, like clear resins, can exaggerate problems by trapping dust and dirt and thus cause worse damage. Demolition means many works are gone forever and overpainting destroys the original decoration, though at least the original incised work remains beneath the layers. Fortunately a revival of interest in this very unique art has meant that several projects have been restored and repaired. These range from schools and houses and commercial buildings to churches in Devon and may include the restoration of Sumner's work at St Paul's, Winchester which was overpainted, and may soon be restored to its former glo1y. Jane Lamb AADipl RIBA AA Historic Building Co11sDipl. 77Jisarticle is a 11 adap1atio11 of my disser/ation on Sgraffito in England 7600-7950 which I wrote for my postgradua/e thesis, for the AA Hisloric Building Conservation course. 25
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=