The Queen's House project - meet the teams

26 Aug 2015

The Queen's House is closed for a year's refurbishment while we get ready for it's 400th anniversary next year. Over the course of the project we'll be speaking to all the teams involved; with updates on the work, behind the scenes pics and a look at some of the iconic building's rich history.

Follow us on Twitter as things unfold, but first up we introduce some of the teams. 

Curators

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The Curators look after the wide-ranging arts collection on a day to day basis. Under Christine Riding, Head of Arts and Curator of the Queen’s House, Katy Barrett looks after the pre-1800 collection and Melanie Vandenbrouck the post-1800. The Queen’s House project has been going since 2011, and the current curatorial team have been working together for over two years developing the concept, content and interpretation for the house.

We have surveyed and researched the entire paintings collection, as well as the miniatures and areas of the prints and drawings and decorative arts. We’ve worked with our curatorial colleagues to identify the most exciting objects in other collections to help diversify the displays in a building that was Queen Henrietta Maria’s ‘house of delights’. This idea has been our starting point to think about using our world-class art collections to illuminate the history of the house. At this point in the project we have finalised our object list, developed most of the layouts and are now concentrating on the design and interpretation that will bring the displays to life. Watch this space as our ideas develop …

Conservation

In conservation we get up close and personal to the collection, investigating our objects so that we can understand how they were made and how best to preserve them for the future. We clean, conserve and repair objects for display and advise on how to keep them in a stable condition. Reflecting the variety of our collections, the conservation team embraces many specialist disciplines. Visitors to the Queen’s House in 2016 will see many objects and artworks which haven’t been exhibited for a long time. We’ve been busy, even before the House closed, starting the job of preparing works from our stores for display. Now that the House is closed we will also be restoring elements within the decorative scheme of the House itself, to give visitors a better sense of its original form and history.

Photographic Studio

With inspiring sites, exciting events and a large collection, no two days are the same for us. One day could see us photographing a uniform in the studio with help from conservation, the next day we could be photographing a Royal opening of a new exhibition. We have diverse collections that makes for stunning photography but we also love recording the changes happening to our sites. We have been photographing the Queen’s House for the past year to make sure we have accurate pre refurbishment images so it’s exciting to be a part of the changes happening in the upcoming year. We’ll be regularly photographing the house as it evolves and the conservation of the collections that will be going on display. Keep up to date with our work by following @RMGPhotoStudio.

To keep up to date with the project follow us on Twitter