Wall hanging panel, tempera on canvas, English, ca. 1600

Section of canvas, painted to simulate wall panelling in a scheme of walnut panels within a turtleshell framework, with white and blue ornaments.

Given by Dorothy E. Hart

Gift of Dorothy E Hart with W.41-1952.
Notes from R.P. 52/950
10 March 1952 Gift form: described as "2 fragments on stained cloth painted in tempera on canvas. English; about 1600" - - to be transferred to Circ.

20 June 1952 Mrs Hart: writes from "The Lockers, Hemel Hempstead" to inform the Museum that the room from which the fragments were taken has been restored. "The best piece of the cloth is now exposed to view…" along with a landscape on canvas discovered over the fireplace.

15 March 1960 Memorandum: reports that Mrs Hart called to say that the house from which the cloth came has been bought by the local authority and it is likely that the decorated room will be demolished.

This panel forms part of a set of cloths painted to simulate wood panelling. The survival of the panels is most unusual. It is due to the fact that they were covered up by wooden panelling soon after their installation. They were found when the panelling was temporarily removed in 1951.
The cloth is woven in coarse white yarn and has a white powder on the back. It was painted in tempera, a type of paint in which the dry pigments are mixed with egg yolk. Tempera dries quickly and is difficult to blend. It is also rather brittle. Here, to provide a smooth, rigid support for the canvas, a layer of plaster was applied to the wall. The canvas was then nailed to the plaster at top and bottom.

Hertfordshire inventories of the 16th and 17th centuries indicated that painted cloths were widely used to decorate walls of the more important rooms, such as the hall or bedchambers.

Painted cloth hangings were frequently used in place of tapestry, but few survive. Sometimes they were painted with figures to look like tapestry, but this one imitates luxurious materials, oak and tortoiseshell. This fragment has survived because real wooden panelling fixed directly over it.

W.42&A-1952