La Maison Chic is offering its customers in exclusivity the range of Zoffany paints. Zoffany has launched 38 new colours selected to complement its new range of fabrics and wallpapers. Twenty-two neutrals, 13 soft colours, and three deep shades work perfectly with recent wallpaper collections. With these additions, the new Zoffany palette comprises 120 colours reflecting the demand for subtlety in tone and the ability to match colour perfectly to the soft furnishings in a scheme. The following finishes are available.
Flat emulsion: Giving a chalky matt finish, the durability of this waterbased emulsion is ideal for walls and ceilings.
Eggshell: Resistant to steam and condensation in kitchens, bathrooms and conservatories, this durable eggshell paint is ideal for woodwork and walls.
Acrylic eggshell: Hardwearing, water-based, high opacity paint suitable for interior walls, ceilings, woodwork, and metalwork.
Gloss: Drying to a tough, hard wearing, finish, gloss paint is ideal for interior and exterior woodwork and metalwork.
The Impressionist colours have been inspired by the fresh, innovative palette of artists of the time. The range comes in 24 colours, from versatile naturals to sassy pinks and greens to rich spicy reds.
From the blue in Van Gogh's Starry Night, the intense red of Monet's Poppyfields, the yellow of Van Gogh's Yellow House, the Degas pink of the ballet dancers' tutus and the grapey purple of Renoir's shadows; they all conjure the vibrant effects achieved by the optical mixing of individual brush-marks of paint.
Painting outside in the open air, wherever they were working, the Impressionists captured the spirit and vibrancy of the moment of the day, which was determined by the effect of the light and the weather.
The Old Masters range reflects the palette used by European painters throughout the centuries and their colours fall naturally into groups.
Hemp, tussah, silk, canvas, chalk, chamois, linen, pebble, barley, and oyster capture the versatile neutral tones of natural substances.
Chalk was a critically important pigment for the painters of the past. Fine white earth was obtained from several well-known quarries. Troy, Rouen, and Bougeval were among the most desirable.
Zoffany offers a wide range of ochres, based on the original iron oxides that were used by the old master painters. These deposits were found in a variety of places in England and Europe.
Sienna, originally another iron oxide mined near the town from which it takes its name, was supplied to colourmen as 'raw' or 'burnt'. This describes exactly its preparation although before the 19th century it was always known as Terra di Sienna.
Vermeer yellow is named after the artist Vermeer who was renowned for his use of yellow. Even David Hockney still refers to Vermeer being the master of this colour, which might have been made from buckthorn berries.
No old master painting is complete without a dab of red. Zoffany has lived up to its reputation for producing rich reds and offers a broad palette from crimson through to terracotta.
Venetian red was originally an iron oxide with a browny red tinge, often referred to as bole and used for mixing with gold size and priming canvasses. It is not clear this red iron oxide came from Venice or was imported through Venice. This type of oxide came from Lemnos in Greece or from Ormus in the Persian Gulf, or more rarely from India where it was known as Indian red.
Zoffany's blue and green range from the gentle tones of Dufour and fennel through verditure and Swedish blue to the chic blacky depths of Amsterdam and ink.
Dufour is based on the background colour of one of the first documents that Zoffany acquired and reproduced.
Verditure, commonly spelled as verditer, had nothing to do with an inorganic earth pigment. The discovery of the pigment was an accident in the process of removing silver plating from copper. The liquid copper nitrate was thrown onto the chalk and turned blue-green. Widely used by English wallpaper manufacturers, it became highly sought after as effective background colour for displaying paintings during the late 18th century. They were often used in very elegant rooms such as the Gallery at Osterley.
Paris grey: Originally there were no earth pigments that made grey so painters would add soot to the white chalks. The soot was collected from oil lights and candleholders and this was called lamp black. Paris was the place where very fine chalk deposits were found and this would have been mixed with lamp black to make Paris grey.
Send us an email with your full address to receive your free Zoffany paint card.
Paint cards, samples pots, 1l and 2.5l pots are available exclusively at La Maison Chic, [email protected], phone (086 ) 2242328, showroom in Oranmore open by appointment and Wednesdays without appointment from 10am to 5pm.
