Whitewash

Description

An inexpensive white paint that contains lime suspended in water. Whitewash may contain other additives such as: glue, whiting, salt, or sugar. The nonpermanent, water-soluble paint was used on walls, fences and ceilings. A similar lime based paint, called limewash, was usually composed of lime mixed with tallow or linseed oil as a water resistant exterior coating.

Synonyms and Related Terms

água de cal (Port.); white lime; limewash; white washing

Additional Information

Bob Bennett "Awash with Colour: The Use of Limewash as a Decorative and Protective Coating" Building Conservation Directory, 1997: Link

Authority

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p.570

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Website address 1 Comment: Lime article - http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/limebasic/limebasic.htm

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000