Decorator

A painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.

Cave paintings, although primitive, are the earliest form of mural decoration known today. Whilst the purpose of these decorations can only be speculated upon, most theories assert a degree of skill involved in their creation, a skill which is carried through in the trade of the house painter.

In England, little is known of the trade and its structures before the late 1200s, at which point guilds began to form, amongst them the Painters Company and the Stainers Company. These two guilds eventually merged with the consent of the Lord Mayor of London in 1502, forming the Painter-Stainers Company. The guild standardised the craft and acted as a protector of the trade secrets, in 1599 asking Parliament for protection, which was eventually granted in a bill of 1606, which granted the trade protection from outside competition such as plasterers.