Painting's restoration reveals 'original splendour'

The painting - which shows Venus interceding with Jupiter on behalf of her son, Aeneas - before restoration (left) and after (right)

A 17th Century painted ceiling created to impress a king has been returned to its "original splendour" after weeks of restoration.

It was painted by Louis Cheron before a visit by William III to Boughton House, Northamptonshire, in 1695.

Varnish and over-painting were removed to reveal the original colours of the 54 sq m (581 sq ft) mythological scene.

Boughton House head of conservation Scott Macdonald said the work would preserve Cheron's legacy.

The painting depicts a scene featuring Roman gods Venus and Jupiter.

Conservator Marta Sledz working on ceiling painting at Boughton House

Cheron was commissioned by Ralph Montagu, an ancestor of current owner the Duke of Buccleuch, to create nine ceiling murals at Boughton House.

The artist was one of many skilled Protestant craftsmen who left France after Louis XIV began to persecute non-Catholics.

The restoration findings "make a significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge on late 17th and early 18th Century baroque", according to conservator Richard Lithgow from Perry Lithgow Partnership.

He discovered the main characters were "more finely and vibrantly painted than the marginal figures", suggesting Cheron was aided by a team of assistants who painted the lesser figures.

The removal of the varnish has revealed much more vibrant colours

Ralph Montagu, later First Duke of Montagu, inherited a Tudor building in 1683 and expanded it into a French-style mansion

The work also confirmed the varnishing was added in later centuries.

The painting is in The First Stateroom, one of five Montagu decorated in the lavish style of the French court ahead of the royal visit.

William III later commissioned his own staterooms for Hampton Court Palace.

Mr MacDonald said conservators had returned the ceiling "as closely as possible to its original splendour".

The restored painting can be seen for the first time throughout August, when Boughton House will be opened for an exhibition about the third Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry.