Why the natural patina that forms on copper, brass, and bronze is the colour of timelessness

The Statue of Liberty, viewed from below, with a cloudy, sunset sky in the background — The wrought-iron pylon and skeletal framework that support the thin copper skin were engineered by Gustave Eiffel, who later designed the Eiffel Tower. The statue was originally a reddish-brown colour.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

There's growing nuance to the burgeoning focus on longevity in interior design. Of course, it’s good, vital even, that furniture doesn’t end up in landfill and a visit to a historic house reveals that well-made furniture should never do so.

Yet the appeal is about more than merely avoiding obsolescence; old furniture improves with time and use, gaining character as it passes from one generation to the next, and, when it needs fixing or refreshing, it’s easily done.

An oil painting of an artist painting a female sitter, wearing a bright blue, long-sleeve dress and matching headpiece — Jan Vermeer’s '*The Artist’s Studio'*, 1665–66, aglow with his prized verdigris pigments.

The facade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice — The distinctive green-blue hue of the basilica's timber-framed outer domes is the direct result of copper and bronze oxidising over centuries.

Verdigris lantern with a single bulb — The elegantly aged Zeus lantern by Hector Finch.

Natural materials, such as wood and stone, age beautifully, improving rather than degrading. Many metals do, too, except for iron, which tends to rust and lose strength. In contrast, copper, brass and bronze develop a deep-blue patina over time, ranging in colour from turquoise to green, a process that can evolve over the course of centuries.

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Their surfaces oxidise, most memorably on statues and monuments, such as the magnificent dome of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, echoing its Triumphal Quadriga, four copper horses that were taken during the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and which date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC.

In painting, verdigris pigments became highly prized in the Renaissance; artists valued them for their depth and gem-like glow, as demonstrated so beautifully in Vermeer’s The Art of Painting, where the colour demonstrates its supernatural capacity to add both depth and a three-dimensional quality to a one-dimensional representation.

'The pervasive sense of permanence is a testament to the magical character of this revered finish'

Leonardo da Vinci found it challenging to work with: ‘It loses its beauty like smoke if it is not quickly varnished. It not only goes up in smoke, but if it is washed with a sponge... the verdigris will disappear.’

Because it is the result of an evolutionary process that enhances, protects and improves with age, verdigris has become emblematic of the benefits of timelessness. At this year’s WOW!house (which runs until July 2), it played a key role in the Hector Finch Garden Folly, the façade of which was designed by Adam Architecture’s Darren Price and which featured its sponsor’s new verdigris Zeus lantern.

Given that this highly atmospheric structure came to life in a matter of days, the pervasive sense of permanence is a testament to the combination of classically inspired simplicity and the magical character of this revered finish.

This feature originally appeared in the June 24, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.

Giles Kime is Country Life's Executive and Interiors Editor, an expert in interior design with decades of experience since starting his career at The World of Interiors magazine. Giles joined Country Life in 2016, introducing new weekly interiors features, bridging the gap between our coverage of architecture and gardening. He previously launched a design section in The Telegraph and spent over a decade at Homes & Gardens magazine (launched by Country Life's founder Edward Hudson in 1919). A regular host of events at London Craft Week, Focus, Decorex and the V&A, he has interviewed leading design figures, including Kit Kemp, Tricia Guild, Mary Fox Linton, Chester Jones, Barbara Barry and Lord Snowdon. He has written a number of books on interior design, property and wine, the most recent of which is on the legendary interior designer Nina Campbell who last year celebrated her fiftieth year in business. This Autumn sees the publication of his book on the work of the interior designer, Emma Sims-Hilditch. He has also written widely on wine and at 26, was the youngest ever editor of Decanter Magazine. Having spent ten years restoring an Arts & Crafts house on the banks of the Itchen, he and his wife, Kate, are breathing life into a 16th-century cottage near Alresford that has remained untouched for almost half a century.