Royal Gallery: Daniel Maclise Paintings

Debate between Lord Trefgarne and Lord Laming

Monday 2nd November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Trefgarne]

To ask the Chairman of Committees what progress has been made on the restoration of the Daniel Maclise paintings in the Royal Gallery.

[The Chairman of Committees (Lord Laming)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord on his timing, because I am pleased to tell the House that the Works of Art Committee has agreed to a conservation programme to clean, conserve and improve the presentation of the two Maclise paintings. The work will be carried out over a four-year period and will start in the summer of 2016.

[Lord Trefgarne (Con)]

My Lords, I am most grateful for that excellent Answer from the noble Lord. After the pictures have been restored, will they be protected for future generations?

[The Chairman of Committees]

Yes, my Lords. We are very grateful for the research project that was undertaken by the students of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and by the Curator’s Office here. A great deal more has to be done to find out exactly what damage has been done to the paintings from environmental factors, such as coal and the like, and from work that has been done since on varnishing the paintings. Once that has been done—we believe that a great deal of the original paint is intact—we will make sure that we preserve the paintings for future generations.