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The ballroom in ������’s Ochre Court is home to a spectacular work of art that transcends time; a ceiling painting by the noted Italian artist Giambettino Cignaroli (1706-1770). The project to restore the painting has received a , recognizing its “significant impact on the preservation of the cultural and historic fabric of Newport,” as noted by the Newport Restoration Foundation. The awards will be presented at a celebration on Friday, Sept. 5, at Rough Point. 

Discovering a masterpiece in disrepair

For 50 years, the Ochre Court ballroom served as ������’s chapel. When a new chapel was constructed in 2010, students and faculty from ������’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Cultural and Historic Preservation Program (CHP) began to explore the ballroom’s original decorative art that had been painted over.

Experts were brought in, including Paul Miller, director of Cloud Hill Museum, and Dr. Andrea Tomezzoli, an art history associate professor at the University of Padua, who determined that a painting on the ceiling was a Cignaroli, one of a series of ceiling murals created for the Venetian palazzo of the Labia family circa 1735. 

The painting, “Vulcan presenting Aeneas’ arms to Venus,” was installed in Ochre Court by Paris atelier Jules Allard & Fils, for the building’s original owner, Ogden Goelet, in 1891. It was attached to masonry with white lead glue and had suffered decades of climate-related damage and overpainting. In recent years, areas of paint had begun flaking and falling to the floor. 

 With the guidance of Miller and the support of benefactors including Alessandra Manning-Dolnier and Kurt Dolnier, Diane Beaver and architectural historian Pauline Metcalf, ������ commissioned John Canning & Co. to begin a project to restore the artwork in January 2024.  

Students get a first-row seat to a meticulous restoration

The project focused on stabilizing the central mural and restoring it to its original glory. The process involved the delicate removal of the aged lacquer, followed by artists infilling areas that had been damaged. The restoration team from Canning & Co. also reconnected the central mural “medallion” to a section of surrounding ceiling that was exposed by the initial exploration.

The restoration of the Cignaroli painting gave ������ CHP students a rare opportunity to engage with a major preservation project. With access to project plans and interactions with expert craftspeople, students were exposed to the complexities of cultural conservation.

“Cignaroli’s painting has been on a nearly 300-year journey from a Venetian palazzo to Ochre Court to the present day. Our students got to observe the restoration project from start to finish and really see the interdisciplinary nature of restoration work of this kind,” said Dr. Heather Rockwell, assistant professor of cultural and historic preservation. “It takes historians, artists, masonry experts, chemists and other experts to restore works like this.”

Sydney Dufresne ’26, a double major in CHP and American history with a minor in sociology and anthropology, was one of the students who studied the project as it unfolded on campus. “It’s so important to learn and take advantage of the history that’s all around us,” she said. “Seeing that ������ is actively doing things to help advance preservation within our own buildings is amazing.”

Consistent with ������’s legacy of community engagement, the University keeps Ochre Court’s first floor main hall, salons and ballrooms open to the public at no charge, ensuring the rare Cignaroli painting is accessible to all who may want to see it.