Issue 48 AUG 25 web - Flipbook - Page 26
image in each corner, to simulate the cleaned and
conserved original North, South and West cornice
elevations.
carrying out trials using chemical swabs to help establish
the most efficient and least invasive approach to uncover
the original Thornhill masterpiece.
The top and bottom roundel mouldings of the entire
cornice were also re gilded with 23.5 carat gold leaf. Paint
research confirmed that these were originally gilded and
that the top flat mouldings and bottom spoon mouldings
were painted with an off white/green shade.
After weeks of conservation cleaning and consolidating
and fixing of detached paint layers an isolation varnish
coat was applied to serve as a reversible barrier to protect
the original ceiling and cornice painted decoration.
Following this the conservators applied filler to the
remaining cracks and repairs in the plaster surface before
beginning the task of retouching the many paint losses
and in painting of areas which required more extensive
sympathetic reintegration along the crack line caused by
the movement of the principal beam and water ingress
The ceiling and cornice had many patches of
unsympathetic retouching and indiscriminate overpainting in an attempt to disguise the extensive damage caused
by the cracks and leaks. These and the many thick layers
of heavily discoloured oil varnish were removed after
Photograph by Andy Marshall
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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