Rubens' ceiling

A unique masterpiece from the golden age of painting

The ceiling of the Banqueting House is the only surviving in-situ ceiling painting by Flemish artist, Sir Peter Paul Rubens.

The canvases were installed in the hall in 1636. The three main canvasses depict The Union of the Crowns, The Apotheosis of James I and The Peaceful Reign of James I.

The ceiling was probably commissioned by Charles I in 1629-30. It was one of the King's last sights before his execution on a scaffold outside the Banqueting Hall in 1649.

When

Open for guided tours on specific dates

Important information

Included in palace admission (members go free)

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Things to see

The genius of Rubens' ceiling

Rubens was not deterred by the large scale of his commission. In a 1621 letter to James I's agent, he wrote, 'I confess that I am, by natural instinct, better fitted to execute very large works than small curiosities.'

Indeed, the ceiling canvasses are large - individually, two of them measure 28 x 20ft (approximately 9 x 6m) and two others measure 40 x 10ft (approximately 13 x 3m).

When the canvases were first unrolled on the floor, Inigo Jones and Rubens' assistants realised with mounting horror that they were too big to fit in the ceiling.

Although both Belgium and England measured in feet and inches, each country used a different length for a foot. Drastic moderations had to be made on site to make them fit.

It appears that Rubens never saw his works inside the Banqueting House. He wrote to a friend, 'In as much as I have a horror of courts, I sent my work to England in the hands of someone else.'

After an initial two-year delay, Rubens received £3,000 (the equivalent of £218,000 today) and a heavy gold chain as payment for his work.