Issue 47 JUNE - Flipbook - Page 48
The sustainable way
to upgrade the picture
lighting at Castle Howard
As part of the 21st Century Renaissance Project at Castle Howard, we were asked to
sustainably upgrade the picture lighting in the Long Gallery. We worked with various designers
& the Internal Curatorial Team at Castle Howard. This project covered many specialist skill
sets to cover all aspects of the room, from gilding to curtains and electrical wiring to architectural
joinery. All areas of renovation & restoration were expertly carried out on time to re-open at
the end of April.
Our part of this project was to sustainably upgrade the
existing picture lights from the old technology, which
offered limited light coverage and poor distribution across
the canvas. In many instances, the paintings were overlit
at the top, with little or no light levels further down. Due
to the size of the picture light heads, the light was unable
to reach the edges of the canvases, and so the viewing
experience was not what it could or should be.
The collection houses many famous artists and paintings,
and a careful and considerate approach was required
for each piece. To gain the correct lighting levels, the
following key items had to be selected:
Colour Temperature
A warm white light, 2,700K
Colour Rendering
A high CRI was required to bring out the rich colours,
definition & brush strokes in the paintings
We were asked to improve the light coverage, increase
the detail and definition across the canvas and work with
the existing picture light models, wherever possible, in
their collection. This was not at all easy, and many would
have walked away at this point, but we like a challenge!!
The paintings ranged in size from an oval 12” x 18” painting through to large landscapes 64” x 84” and full-length
portraits of 136” x 86”.
Head Shape & Size
To work with the existing styles of picture light, which
were Linolite and Allom & Heffer.
LED Lensing & Spacing
Various lensing & separations were selected dependent
on the head size (8” through to 40”) for each of the
paintings to be lit.
Below, Castle Howard
Conservation & Heritage Journal
46
