Patrick Baty

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(born 1956) is a British

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

of architectural paint and

colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

, who works as a

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servi ...

in the decoration of

historic buildings This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many in ...

Early years

He was educated at St Benedict's School, in London, and after a short period as a private soldier in the Parachute Regiment attended the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

being commissioned into the

9th/12th Royal Lancers The 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1960 by the amalgamation of the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers and the 12th Royal Lancers. In the later years of its existence, the regiment served ...

in 1976. He resigned his commission in 1980 when his newly posted

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latit ...

opposed his secondment to the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces. Reverting to the rank of Trooper he undertook

Selection Selection may refer to: Science * Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution ** Sex selection, in genetics ** Mate selection, in mating ** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality ** Human mating strat ...

for the

Artists Rifles The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles is a regiment of the Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R). Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regimen ...

leaving as a

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

some ten years later. After a brief spell with the

Anthony d'Offay Georges Anthony d'Offay (born January 1940) is a British art dealer, collector and curator. His was born to a Seychellois father. Life and career Georges Anthony d'Offay was born in January 1940 in Sheffield to a French father. He began dealin ...

gallery he joined his family

paint Paint is any pigmented liquid, liquefiable, or solid mastic composition that, after application to a substrate in a thin layer, converts to a solid film. It is most commonly used to protect, color, or provide texture. Paint can be made in many ...

business Papers and Paints. Having always had an interest in

he began a study of the methods and materials employed in their decoration. In 1993 he completed a part-time degree in the subject at the

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

Recent career

Patrick Baty has acted as a consultant on many major restoration projects in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was a long-standing committee member of the Georgian Group and a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of both the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usua ...

and the

Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. Baty is a founding member of both the Traditional Paint Forum and the Architectural Paint Group.

Projects

Projects have ranged from King Henry VIII's heraldic Beasts; Baroque churches; country houses; wartime RAF stations and London housing estates to structures such as Tower Bridge and Holborn Viaduct. He also works in the USA.

Work with colour

In the 1980s Patrick Baty produced a range of paint colours based on those offered by a Scottish house-painter in 1807, this sparked off the present wave of historically-themed paint ranges which are still seen today. In April 2000, '' Homes & Gardens'' described him as being "Undoubtedly the most influential of our (paint) experts…whose breadth and depth of knowledge is unrivalled". In recent years, on two separate occasions, he has been employed by ICI (

Dulux Dulux is an internationally available brand of architectural paint originated from the United Kingdom. The brand name Dulux has been used by both Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and DuPont since 1931 and was one of the first alkyd-based ...

) and The Little Greene to develop ranges of traditional paint colours for

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. Colour ranges have also been produced for the French and German markets. The colours traditionally employed on the exteriors of buildings in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situ ...

and in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

have been investigated for the local planning authorities and guidelines produced for them. The colours used on the exteriors of Chelsea houses in the 19th century have also been identified and an article published for the Chelsea Society. He has recently finished work on a range of exterior colours based on regional use in France. A similar project looking at regional colour in the United Kingdom is in progress. In 2007 his company, Papers and Paints, was awarded a

Royal Warrant A royal warrant is a document issued by a monarch which confers rights or privileges on the recipient, or has the effect of law. Royal warrant may refer to: * Royal warrant of appointment, warrant to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a r ...

for his work with colour.

Personal life

He is married with a daughter and two sons. Patrick Baty is the great grandson of the artists Robert Polhill Bevan and his wife,

Stanisława de Karłowska Stanisława de Karłowska (8 May 1876 – 9 December 1952) was a Polish-born artist who was a was a founder member of the The London Group, London Group. Her work combined a modernist style with elements of Polish folk art. Life and work Stanis� ...

. His direct ancestors also include Silvanus Bevan (The Banker), and his wife, Louise Kendall Bevan, Timothy Bevan and his wife, Elizabeth Barclay Bevan, David Bevan and his wife, Favell Bourke Lee Bevan, Robert Cooper Lee Bevan, and his wife, Lady Agneta Elizabeth Yorke Bevan, Robert Barclay (The Quaker Apologist), David Barclay) among several others. Sir Philip Hendy, Director of the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

(1946–1967), commented that the aforementioned Robert Polhill Bevan was perhaps the first Englishman to use pure colour in the 20th Century.

Lecturing and writing

Baty lectures often on the general subject of paint and colour of the 18th and 19th centuries. The audiences range widely from the staff of the national amenity organisations, to preservation enthusiasts. He has been a frequent lecturer on graduate and

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and str ...

courses at several universities, to architects on

Continuing Professional Development Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described as intensive ...

courses, and to conservation officers. He has spoken at a number of international symposia in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, and lectured and run courses along the East coast of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

.
His published works are listed here and he has also contributed to and edited various other books on the subject of paint and colour; Robert Bevan and also on The

Select Bibliography

"Palette of Historic Paints."
Country Life, 20 Feb. 1992: 56–57.
"Palette of the Past."
Country Life, 3 Sep. 1992: 44–47. * House Decoration, by Paul Hasluck. An introduction to the facsimile edition. Donhead Publishing, Dorset. 2001.
"Inspired by the Past?"
In John Fowler: The Invention of the Country-House Style. Donhead Publishing, Dorset. 2005. This paper follows the English Heritage/Traditional Paint Forum conference Inspired by the Past that took place in London on 4 July 2001.
"The Colours
of Chelsea." The Chelsea Society Report, 2003.
"The Colours
of Calke." The World of Interiors, December 2007: 139–143. * "Exterior Colour on the Smaller Town House" in Materials & Skills for Historic Building Conservation. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. 2008.
"Straws from Cumberland Market"
in the catalogue for an exhibition of works of art at Southampton City Art Gallery entitled "A Countryman in Town: Robert Bevan and the Cumberland Market Group”. 26 September to 14 December 2008. * "The Colourful Past of the Royal Festival Hall" in Architectural Finishes in the Built Environment. Archetype Books, London. 2009. * "Paint Colour and Paintwork" in Interior Finishes & Fittings for Historic Building Conservation. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. 2012. * (Contribution to) Metals. English Heritage Practical Building Conservation. Ashgate Publishing. 2012. * "Family Colours". Tate Magazine (issue 27: Spring 2013): 27–29.
The Anatomy of Colour.
Thames & Hudson. 2017.

References

External links

Architectural Paint and Colour ConsultantPatrick Baty's published workPatrick Baty's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baty, Patrick Living people 1956 births People educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 9th/12th Royal Lancers officers Artists' Rifles officers English historians English male non-fiction writers Bevan family