While we were restoring the Sanctuary in 2008, a trial was made of whether the paintings over the arches on either side could be uncovered. They were done in the 1920s by Gabriel Pippett, and showed scenes from the life of St Aloysius, in roundels, linked up with trailing vines. Unfortunately they were all painted over with heavy emulsion paint in the 1950s. The experiment showed that it is (just) possible to clean the paint off, but it would take a very long time, and the pictures underneath would then need to be retouched. It was estimated that it would take at least two months of skilled restoration work. So we reluctantly decided the little bits we had seen would have to be covered over again – Pippett was a good artist, but not a great one, and for the amount that would have cost we could one day get a great artist to do something better in place of the lost paintings.
Saturday, 1 May 2010
A glimpse of our Patron Saint
While we were restoring the Sanctuary in 2008, a trial was made of whether the paintings over the arches on either side could be uncovered. They were done in the 1920s by Gabriel Pippett, and showed scenes from the life of St Aloysius, in roundels, linked up with trailing vines. Unfortunately they were all painted over with heavy emulsion paint in the 1950s. The experiment showed that it is (just) possible to clean the paint off, but it would take a very long time, and the pictures underneath would then need to be retouched. It was estimated that it would take at least two months of skilled restoration work. So we reluctantly decided the little bits we had seen would have to be covered over again – Pippett was a good artist, but not a great one, and for the amount that would have cost we could one day get a great artist to do something better in place of the lost paintings.
