Surface-treatment trials are due to begin this month as part of a £7m restoration of a masterpiece of British Baroque—the Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, south-east London. The “unprecedented” project aims to break new ground in the cleaning and stabilization of wall and ceiling paintings covering 3,700 sq. m and in granting members of the public access to conservation work being carried out 16 meters above the ground.
The soaring hall was designed by Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor as a dining room for naval veterans—the “Greenwich Pensioners”—in the seamen’s hospital that became part of the college. It was painted by James Thornhill over 19 years, beginning in 1708.
