Those of you who attended my Installation as Master last July will recall that the event and the subsequent dinner were held in the beautiful Painted Hall in Greenwich.This hall, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was originally intended as eating space for naval veterans living at the adjacent Royal Naval Hospital. The walls and ceilings were painted by James Thornhill, and such was the scale and intricacy, that his work took some 19 years to complete.
Immediately following our Installation Dinner on 1st July 2016, the Painted Hall was closed for three years of restoration work to Thornhill’s paintings.An enormous scaffolding structure, some 20m high, has been constructed in the Hall to give the restorers access to the paintings. Fiona and I arranged to visit the restoration work and were given a guided tour which was both fascinating and awe inspiring. For those of you that are interested, I would thoroughly recommend booking such a tour by going on the Painted Hall website.
Photographs show the Painted Hall before restoration works commenced, our guide describing some of the hidden secrets of the artwork, and the Master on the scaffolding platform immediately adjacent to Thornhill’s ceiling.
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