As part of important conservation work, Historic Royal Palaces commissioned me to produce these 3D model reconstructions of the Banqueting House to visualise how its historic ceiling originally looked.

Designed by the architect Inigo Jones and completed in 1622, the Banqueting House is the only remaining component of the original Royal Palace of Whitehall. The building was to transform English architecture - it was the first structure to be completed in the neoclassical style influenced by Andrea Palladio. Charles I became a great patron of the arts and encouraged the great painters of Europe to come to England. In 1636 the King commissioned a spectacular gilded ceiling with nine paintings to glorify his father, James I. Titled ‘The Apotheosis of James I’, they were painted by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens - one of Europe’s most influential and important artists of the time. The ceiling was painted plain white before Rubens' paintings were installed, but was darkened with 'walnut-tree' colour and richly gilded after their installation.

How this image was made

Software and tools used: Blender 3D, Cycles Render Engine, Photoshop

Notes: The 3D model was created from measured survey drawings provided to me by Historic Royal Palaces. I used Blender 3D for modelling, and Photoshop and Substance Painter for painting and texturing details. The modillion cornicework and guilloche ornamental soffits were achieved using Blender's array and curve modifiers. Historic Royal Palaces also provided me with high-resolution images of the nine Rubens paintings so I could 'map' these accurately onto my ceiling panels. I produced two computer renderings to show the interior with its present-day and historic colours using colour samples of the underlying paint extracted during conservation work.