Sheldonian Theatre

Thirty-two 17^th-century ceiling paintings to the ceiling of the Theatre, executed in oil on canvas, of ‘Truth Combining with the Arts and Sciences to Expel Ignorance from the University’, by Robert Streeter (painter to the Royal Household of Charles II). Sheldonian Theatre, University of Oxford, Oxford.

The project involved a full structural and condition survey of the ceiling, which had been in danger of collapse in several areas.  Conservation treatment involved the removal of the paintings from the ceiling, transportation, surface-cleaning, removal of old lining canvases, removal of old varnish and overpaint, lining onto new supporting canvases, repair of the stretchers as necessary, and varnishing, filling and retouching of damages to the paint layers, then return and reinstatement to the ceiling after restoration of the fabric of the Theatre. A full technical report on each painting was also carried out, including microscope paint sample analysis.

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