Buckets of whitewash
Sir: Mr Ormond's reply (Letters, 30 June) to Gavin Stamp's justly severe criticism (Restoration farce', 9 June) of the Queen's House restoration is no more than a whitewash of the vulgar charade that has been enacted here.
Despite the protestations in detail, any- one with an iota of visual sensibility would cringe to walk through these rooms. De- spite the taking of 150 paint samples from the King's Presence Chamber, can anyone
LETTERS
condone the dreadful gold paint on the ceiling, the awful imitation sky in the ceiling panels, and pilasters that are, in fact, the work of an ignorant Property Services Agency?
Mr Ormond must publicly justify his statement to the Sunday Telegraph on 18 May that the work has been 'based upon extensive research by an expert committee that has been planning this restoration for six years'. In fact, there is no such commit- tee in the sense of a body of scholarly advisers.
Mr Ormond's committee comprises Harold Yexley of the Property Services Agency, Geoffrey Parnell of English Herit- age, Erica Davies of the Freud House, Hampstead, and Ian Bristow. Apart from Mr Bristow, a well known guru for historic paint restoration, I have searched without success to discover any appropriate qual- ifications that these 'experts' might possess to plan such a major and sensitive restor- ation.
Mr Ormond must tell us why he did not form an honorary committee to advise his own executive working committee. As far as I can ascertain, among many others, advice was not sought from Howard Col- vin, John Cornforth, Gordon Higgott, Sir Oliver Millar, John Martin Robinson, Ger- vase Jackson Stops, Sir Roy Strong, Sir John Summerson or myself. We would have been happy to have provided guide- lines and a consensus of valuable advice.
If the eyes are hurt by the aberration of coloured reproductions in the ceiling of the Great Hall, remember the rather pretty Louis Cheron painting that was installed here in the early 18th century. It is soon to be sold by Sotheby's. This is outrageous.
John Harris
16 Limerston Street, London SW10
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