At least James Thornhill then got to have his hard work seen by more people, the "respectable" public. And however awe inspiring this hall is, imagine eating every meal here, you might stop noticing things. Such as...
...the ceilings
...the animals
...St Paul's
...and the textiles
Ceilings can be tricky to look at, so mirrors are provided so you can look down rather than up.
Time has taken it's toll on these paintings in the Painted Hall and they are in the process of being restored. And this costs money. You can often be asked to donate to conservation work. But hats off to the Old Royal Naval College for making it easy, fun and for making it very clear where your money goes.
To put this into perspective, James Thornhill received £3 per square yard for painting the ceiling and £1 for the walls. Times have changed.
Visitors have painted the ceiling by numbers. Wish I'd done that.
I adopted a face. 'Providence'. Who doesn't love a museum badge?
She was in the paintings somewhere.
Fundraising is not a new to the Painted Hall. It was all very (questionably) transparent back then. Not only did those 'respectable' people get to see who had donated, but also how much they had given. Best not to out-do King William. No-one even came close.
Over 300 years later, the Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich is still open to the public. Prices have changed, from 3d to free admission. Details on the Old Royal Naval College website here.
As for everyday use, meals are still not served to 'respectable vistors', not even birthday lunches. Happy Birthday Nicola.
Just so you know, we didn't starve, we had lunch in the University of Greenwich cafe very close by.
