Difficulties with architectural paint research – Case study: Paint research on a furrowed string-course in the southern vault of the Royal Palace of Stockholm.

This bachelor thesis discusses various difficulties with architectural paint research. The difficulties are exemplified through a case study – a paint research on a furrowed string-course in the southern vault of the Royal Palace of Stockholm, which was carried out November – March 2009-2010 on behalf of Statens Fastighetsverk. The paint research was made in order to receive information about the string-course and to get inspiration for a renewed color scheme on it. The base material of the string-course is Gotlandic sandstone and the surface of it is furrowed. Methods such as scraping, cross-section, archival research, UV-fluorescence and SEM/EDX analysis were used to examine the string-course. The furrowed surface of the string-course made the paint-research difficult and already established research methods were not always possible to use. In the case study, strappo is examined as an alternative method to scraping for removing difficult paint layers. Eight layers including paint and ground layers were found on the string-course. The results of the paint research as well as difficulties concerning the investigation are brought up in the thesis and discussed. The aim of the thesis is to identify different aspects of methods used in this interior paint research as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The thesis discusses the methods used in the research through the perspective of non-invasiveness and invasiveness. It also discusses ethics regarding the notion of minimal invasiveness in relation to the means of an informative paint research