The National Wall Paintings Survey

The National Wall Paintings Survey is a vast and internationally important archive, comprising records of all known British medieval wall paintings as well as extensive material on post-medieval schemes of painted decoration. Set up by Professor David Park in the early 1980s, the Survey documents the nation’s most lavish courtly and ecclesiastical murals alongside paintings in more humble contexts.

Encompassing photographic records, conservation reports and previously unpublished art-historical research, as well as some 2,500 original paint samples, the archive constitutes an exceptional record of the condition of our wall paintings and forms an essential point of reference, both for art-historical scholarship and for those charged with the ongoing care of these works. Of particular interest is material bequeathed from the records of such pioneering wall painting conservators as E. W. Tristram and Eve Baker, the exquisitely illustrated research notes of renowned antiquarian Edward Croft-Murray, as well as Muriel Carrick’s comprehensive documentation of domestic decorative schemes.

Keen that this important resource be made more accessible to all those who work on wall paintings, The Courtauld has embarked upon a project to catalogue, digitise and make the Survey archive available online. Supported by grants from the Paul Mellon Centre, Pilgrim Trust and Marc Fitch Fund, this ongoing initiative seeks to preserve the Survey archive and to disseminate research into the conservation of Britain’s mural heritage. Working in partnership with The Courtauld’s extraordinary community of volunteers, the Survey has now been fully catalogued and a selection of the material held digitised. We are working hard to complete this process so that this important resource can be made widely accessible to all.

We are always keen to attract new contributions to the Survey to ensure that it remains a dynamic and up-to-date record of the nation’s mural heritage. Get in touch with us by emailing wallpaintingsurvey@courtauld.ac.uk.