William Wall, America's most well-known 19th-century grainer, demonstrates his quarter-saw oak skills at the House Painters and Decorators Convention in Ontario, Canada, 1905. Photo Courtesy of Oak Alley Plantation

By Steve Jordan

Graining is the painted imitation of an expensive wood over an inferior wood, or any smooth surface that can be painted. One of the classic decorative painting techniques, it's also known as wood graining, grain painting, and faux bois—French for "not wood." Most old-house lovers have probably appreciated graining at one time or another, but to the uninitiated, it's a bizarre concept. Why paint wood to look like another wood? Why not buy the real thing? The answer, basically, is an old story. People want what they can't afford, or what can't be purchased at any price. In the case of attractive wood, like a street-bought Rolex or synthetic stucco, a good imitation will do. Exploring some of the rich lore of graining, and its historic use in houses—particularly on doors—can teach us a surprising amount about how these beautiful decorative effects were produced, and what their owners were trying to achieve.

The Waves of Graining
Graining came to America with an age-old pedigree. With the dense forests of England and Europe long gone, imitating wood with paint was a regular practice there by the time the first colonists established themselves in the New World. Documented examples of 17th-century graining in North America are rare, but by the first quarter of the 18th century, both physical and written evidence of graining is common. The earliest painter/grainers were Englishmen, who typically arrived after serving strict apprenticeships—tutelage lasting ten years or longer under masters who were often harsh or cruel. The flows of immigrants that began in the 1850s, however, brought experts from other countries, each contributing to the craft as it developed, refined itself, and spread.

Historically, graining, marbleizing, striping, and sign writing (and sometimes mural painting and portraiture) were performed by painters with skills beyond "plain painting"—what we know as house painting. Grainers made more money than plain painters, and the very best were in high demand. In sparsely populated rural areas, painters were Jacks-of-all-trades, performing whatever work was necessary to make a living. In metropolitan areas, though, painters often specialized and grainer/marblers were common.

Grainers advertised locally and also traveled as itinerants, living with their clients as part of their fee. In 1760, for example, the Maryland Gazette advertised that John Winters, a convict servant who had last worked for George Washington and could "imitate marble or mahogany exactly" had run away. In the 1830s, one Joseph Davis traveled to New Hampshire and Maine selling his services as a limner (portrait painter), house painter, and a grainer. Bridging the gap between the town painter and the itinerant was William Gray of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who worked locally, but also traveled distances to out-of-town clients. Records indicate he went as far as Durham, New Hampshire, to paint a room "seder (sic) color" and another "stone color."

Early American graining was usually an approximation of wood, or even a naive simulation. Imitations of bird's eye and tiger maple, mahogany, and oak were common. The unstudied, playful nature of this early work—sometimes called country graining—is a favorite of many old-house owners and especially sought-after on primitive antique furniture. But by its zenith during the last half of the 19th century, graining was often refined to near-perfect re-creations, and the best grainers were referred to as "art" grainers. Mahogany with elaborate crotch figuring on door panels, rosewood, walnut and walnut burl, and quartered oak were commonly imitated on doors, wainscots, and trim. Similar treatments were used on cottage (inexpensive) furniture.

Fine-Figured Doors
Almost every surface in a house could be grained. Doors, trimwork, walls, floors, and ceilings were all up for grabs, but doors usually highlighted the grainer's best work with the most difficult (and also most desired) grains placed in the panels. For example, if oak graining was used throughout a room or only on a door, the fussy dapples of quarter-sawn figuring were saved for the panels, while easier combed graining decorated the stiles and rails. The panels of mahogany-grained doors were usually decorated with flamboyant crotch figuring, while the stiles and rails were decorated with simpler ribbon-cut graining. Walnut-grained doors often sported burl panels with common plain-sawn graining on the rest of the door. Although rarer because it was more difficult to produce, bird's-eye maple was another imitation used to decorate door panels.

Expert graining was not the only method used to set doors apart from the rest of the room. Doors were frequently grained in two contrasting woods or with a contrasting paint or gilt as might be done in creating a piece of fine furniture. Panel mouldings that separated panels from the stiles and rails were frequently "picked out" with paint in a striking way. A mahogany-grained door might have ebonized or gilt panel mouldings. A light maple-grained door might have mahogany-grained panel mouldings to create an interesting contrast. In rarer cases, stripes were used to create the illusion of more intricate mouldings.

One advantage of graining doors was that each side could be grained in a different type of wood. At the Patrick Barry House in Rochester, New York, the public room doors were grained in beautiful interpretations of mahogany and walnut, while the sides of the doors facing the private kitchen halls where the servants worked were grained in common oak.

Historic Paint Superstars
Little is known about America's earliest painter/grainers but 19th-century records and books reveal a lot about the later workmen and their trade. One early 19th-century painter whose life and work has been well recorded is Rufus Porter (1792-1884). Porter was an itinerant painter (and also a publisher and inventor) known for his murals that still exist in various locations across New England. An expert in all the required decorative painting skills, he published A Select Collection of Valuable and Curious Arts in 1826. Among his instructions, he included a section "To Paint in Imitation of Mahogany and Maple." His directions left broad margins for interpretation but demonstrate Porter's firsthand knowledge and call for decorative painters to master this technique.

Although a departure from a discussion about North America, no history of graining is complete without a few words about the most famous of all grainers, Englishman Thomas Kershaw (1819- 1898). With a lengthy apprenticeship in house painting, signwriting, graining, and marbling, Kershaw won awards at the International Exhibit of 1851 and in the Paris exhibition of 1855. So skillful and realistic was his work that it was often confused with real wood and marble. His fame brought him to the attention of Prince Albert, who hired Kershaw to decorate the Emperor's Room at Buckingham Palace. His work is still occasionally displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Between the mid-19th century and the turn of the 20th century, the popularity of graining was nearly ubiquitous. Books, pamphlets, and journals demonstrated techniques and formulas, and patented graining tools were invented to make "every man his own grainer." Despite the way publishing put graining knowledge in the hands of the layman, and patent tools made the task easier, mastering the techniques needed for a skillful, realistic imitation of coveted woods was still the province of the professional grainer, and America had her own stars.

What Kershaw was to England, William E. Wall was to the United States. The son of a grainer, Wall lived in the Boston metropolitan area where he perfected his skills. He won awards for his work at the Columbian Exposition, the St. Louis World's Fair, the Jamestown Tercentennial, and the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial. In 1890, Wall published Practical Graining, which was a compilation of articles he had written for the journal House Painting and Decorating. Wall's second book, Graining Ancient and Modern (1905), is possibly the most thorough book ever written about the craft.

Graining Regained
Throughout the 19th century, graining had its advocates, but it was also reviled by leading architects, designers, and style mavens as a deceptive, cheap imitation. Nevertheless, because popular woods were expensive or unavailable, the use of graining—good quality, badly done, and everything in between—was widespread in moderate and expensive homes, commercial buildings, public buildings, and churches.

Since the 1970s, there has been a revival of traditional painting crafts fueled in no small way by renewed interest in historic houses and buildings. The United States has always had a shortage of highly skilled workers, and the situation is no different for graining, marbleizing, and many decorative painting techniques.

Experienced artisans are usually busy, even during poor economic times, and the very best often have work reserved for months into the future. In response, decorative painting schools, instructional videos, home-center classes, books, and websites have all contributed to the rebirth of the technique on both the popular and professional level. As in centuries past, a basic consumer impulse still holds true: If we can't have the very best, then a good imitation will often do just fine. The surprising appeal of graining, however, comes from the fact that the man-made version can be more interesting or beautiful than the real thing.

Contributing editor Steve Jordan based this article in part on his Cornell University master's thesis, "Graining in America: 1828-1923."