COMMISSIONED TO PATINATE AND INSTALL NEW PLASTER CAST RELIEFS, BUSTS AND STATUES

Cliveden Conservation was commissioned to patinate and install a range of new plaster cast reliefs, busts and statues to serve as the focal point of the 1870s Grand Staircase rehang at Castle Howard located in North Yorkshire.

The project forms part of wider renovations scheduled across the castle that are gradually restoring features lost in a devastating fire in 1940, and will also serve to mark almost 300 years since the passing of prominent designer and architect, Sir John Vanbrugh, in 1726.

Conservation Work Undertaken 

Nicholas and Victoria Howard commissioned architect Francis Terry and designers Alec Cobbe and Remy Renzullo to work together with Cliveden Conservation to patinate and install thirty-six plaster reliefs, four statues, and four busts with console brackets.

The plaster casts were outsourced by the design team to different suppliers. Prior to patination, conservators applied a number of surface treatments to define surface detail. This process included reducing air bubbles with an appropriate filler and applying three layers of acrylic Gesso.

Following a series of patination trials, multiple colour washes were applied to develop an individually nuanced level of patination befitting for the Grand Staircase. The conservation team collaborated closely with the house and design teams to achieve a finish that met the project’s criteria and satisfied all parties involved.

Cliveden Conservation was also asked to consolidate and reinforce the structural integrity of another newly acquired, but older, relief to form part of the same collection on the Grand Staircase.

Custom fixings and bespoke brackets were designed by conservators and manufactured by a metal fabricator. These were powder-coated and then patinated.

The installation process was undertaken using specialist lifting techniques from a fixed scaffold above the staircase.The project included the patination and installation of the statues of Jeune Satyr, Apollino, Apollon Saurochtone Tueur de Lezards and Diadoumene into niches in the Grecian Hall.

Results

The busts and reliefs are now proudly displayed in the Grand Staircase alongside a range of antiquities, artefacts and sculpture collected by the 4th and 5th Earls on their travels and form part of Castle Howard’s history and relationship with the Grand Tour in the 18th century. The completed work both seamlessly refreshes and blends in with the house’s historic interior, and has been greatly received by castle staff and members of the public since the room’s reopening at the end of April 2025.