Drawing Room Wallpaper

During 2003 paint microscopy investigations of Madison-era paint and wallpaper evidence in the Drawing Room, Montpelier’s restoration team uncovered a tiny fragment of wallpaper that provided remarkable clues about the room’s decorative scheme. The red-on-red flocked paper fragment, discovered above the architrave of the central triple-sash window and dated ca. 1810, confirmed documentary evidence of the presence of both crimson and red in the room. While the scrap provided positive evidence of wool flocking, dye, and color of the ground paper, no pattern was discernible. A design featuring exuberant splays of stylized pomegranates and plants was chosen based on extant contemporary crimson flocked papers in other historic homes, particularly two examples in England, and a sample found inside a Richmond, Virginia trunk. Flock and ground colors were chosen based on careful microscopic examination of the fragment and matched against extant 18th and 19th century papers in museum collections.