Conserving the Ruben's ceiling

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 film takes a closer look at how conservators examined Rubens' ceiling to decide how best to care for them, during conservation work in 2018.

Three specialist teams worked together to take scrapings to test the underlying original paint scheme, take scientific imaging to determine how the paintings were made and remove some of the degraded varnishes to reveal what remained. The plywood structures that the canvases are pasted onto were also examined to see if they were in good condition.