Exterior paint layers at Abeline’s farm: multi-analytical study of 19th–20th century pigments

A renovation of the large Abeline’s Bailiff Beach Farm—a local museum attraction on the west coast of Denmark—led to investigations of the paint layers on certain architectural elements to elucidate the dating of the farm buildings. The project was carried out as a cooperation between curators from Ringkøbing Fjord Museums, scientists from the European Interreg project TORCH (Denmark/Germany), and conservators from the Conservation Center Vejle. The study concerns the challenges and in-depth disclosure of multilayered, weathered paint layers on the outdoor decorated architectural elements on the east wing of the farm. Two or more methods of examination interceded in the research, such as cross-section analysis, optical microscopy, microchemical analysis of samples, Raman microscopy, Micro-X-ray fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, focusing on pigment identification as the main approach for dating the farm buildings due to a lack of archival information on the topic.