The conservator also discovered that the plaster above the chair rail level was simply whitewash. This fact told the Restoration Team that the decorative painting was only on the lower third of the wall, meaning that it was used as a substitute for wainscot.  Amazingly the physical evidence was corroborated by a visitor to Montpelier in Madison's time, Mary E.E. Cutts.  Mrs. Cutts recorded that "...the walls were painted in Fresco, with flowers and landscapes wherever they were not wainscoted, this was done by an English Artist called a remptionist according to a custom of that day, who was bound for a certain number of years, until his passage was paid."