Patrick Baty

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

(born 1956) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 species; as well as the ...

of architectural paint and

colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...

, who works as a

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

in the decoration of historic buildings.

Early years

He was educated at St Benedict's School, in London, and, after a 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 in 1976. He resigned his commission in 1980 when his newly-posted

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, 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 give ...

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, leaving as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

some ten years later. After a brief spell with the Anthony d'Offay gallery he joined his family

paint Paint is a material or mixture that, when applied to a solid material and allowed to dry, adds a film-like layer. As art, this is used to create an image or images known as a painting. Paint can be made in many colors and types. Most paints are ...

business Papers and Paints. Having always had an interest in historic buildings 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 University of East London (UEL) is a public university located in the London Borough of Newham, London, England, based at three campuses in Stratford, London, Stratford and London Docklands, Docklands, following the opening of University Squar ...

Recent career

Baty has acted as a consultant on many 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was a committee member of the Georgian Group and a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

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 usu ...

and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce. 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 Baty produced a range of paint colours based on those offered by a Scottish house-painter in 1807. 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". He has been employed by ICI ( Dulux) 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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. 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 is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

and in

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

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 worked 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 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.

Lecturing and writing

Baty lectures 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 Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

enthusiasts. He has lectured at universities, to architects on

Continuing Professional Development Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing praxis in addition to the transferab ...

courses, and to conservation officers. He has spoken at international symposia in Europe, and lectured and run courses along the East coast of the United States.
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 Artists Rifles.

Select bibliography

* ''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. * "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, ''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. * ''The Anatomy of Colour''. Thames & Hudson. 2017.

References

External links

Patrick Baty's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baty, Patrick Living people 1956 births Alumni of the University of East London Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 9th/12th Royal Lancers officers Artists' Rifles officers English architectural historians English art historians English male non-fiction writers Bevan family