2 DECEMBER 1989, Page 33

Gibbons errors

Sir: Some of the Grinling Gibbons carvings at Hampton Court were indeed removed for safekeeping during World War II, and so it would seem perfectly reasonable for Gilly Cryer (Letters, 11 November) to surmise that the errors in positioning

occurred when they were re-mounted. But as I said in my article (28 October), archive photographs from the late Thirties to be precise — show that at that pttint the carvings were already in their present upside down or backwards configurations.

One scarcely knows whether to praise or blame the post-war palace authorities, who scrupulously reproduced the errors of the past when they put Gibbons's work back up on the walls again.

David Esterly

39 Christchurch Hill, London NW3