The Brompton Oratory, London

Photograph showing the interior of the Brompton Oratory with ornate decorative plaster ceiling and decorative paint.

Outside view of the exterior of the Brompton Oratory on a cloudy day.

THE MARY MAGDALENE CHAPEL

This project involved the conservation treatment and reinstatement of decoration to the interior of the Mary Magdeline Chapel of Brompton Oratory. In addition to years of accumulated surface dirt, the decorative surfaces were cracked, flaking, and severely discoloured due to water ingress. The marouflage panels required careful cleaning and consolidation of the painted surface and reaffixing to the plaster substrate. Repairs were also carried out on the decorative plasterwork, replacing missing details using a combination of casting and hand modelling techniques.

Conservation works were carried out alongside Hare & Humphreys' specialist decorators, who reinstated the damaged painted scheme of surrounding wall faces and decorative friezes and undertook the extensive re-gilding of decorative detail and the dome.

A man cleans a section of dirty historic plasterwork.

Cleaning to plaster panel and and marouflage insert

A section of blue and yellow historic paintwork showing half cleaned and half still dirty.

During cleaning of marouflage showing amazingly preserved original surface beneath years of accumulated dirt

Blue and yellow decorative panel in a historic interior before conservation treatment, showing cracking and loss

Blue and yellow decorative panel in a historic interior after conservation treatment. Showing a cleaned and restored surface.

Area of chapel wall face with marouflage panel before and after conservation

Photo showing a decorative painted historic interior with gilded plaster and blue and yellow painted panels. In front os bars of a scaffold. The interior is badly damaged with cracking and missing paint.

Poor condition of wall faces and artworks before conservation

Newly conserved and restored section of a historic interior, showing bright gilded plaster detailing and blue and gold painted panels.

Wall faces and artworks after conservation and reinstatement of original painted decoration

ADDITIONAL WORKS - Conservation cleaning was also undertaken on the chapels' mosaics, statues, and extensive marble altar.

Mosaic depicting a man with a bears in a yellow tunic with a red cloak. The surface is dirty.

Mosaic depicting a man with a bears in a yellow tunic with a red cloak. The surface is clean.

Before and after conservation cleaning of mosaic

A white marble statue on a man with a beard during conservation cleaning. The left side is dirty and the right side has been cleaned.

Before and after conservation cleaning of mosaic

The Brompton Oratory, London

THE MARY MAGDALENE CHAPEL

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ADDITIONAL WORKS - Conservation cleaning was also undertaken on the chapels' mosaics, statues, and extensive marble altar.