The painted surface beneath the arches in the  Admirals Hall was examined after removal of the  two door superstructures. Inspection revealed  there to be an older frame with traces of several  layers of decorative paper (red, green, and  blue).
 The decoration of carton-pierre along the wall is  attached to poor-quality fir panels. These have  deformed a little and will have to be restored to  their original condition. Carton-pierre will be used again. This material was employed for ornamental work, as mouldings or ceiling relief. It consisted of a mixture of boiled silk paper, hot animal-skin glue, and chalk dust. It forms a consistent, workable paste before drying and has the advantages of being both light and strong. The technique was replaced with fibrous plaster in the 1850s.

 After discussion with the gilder - who will use the  oil-gilding technique for the moulding and water  gilding followed by burnishing for the fillet (wood  moulding strip used to cover joints and around  door frames) - it was agreed to rebuild two new  supports, identical to the originals, for properly  holding the restored panels. Both the water gilding  and oil gilding techniques use gold leaf. Water  gilding, which is used on sculpted wood, calls for a  succession of about twenty operations and enables details to be highlighted by burnishing them a little. Oil gilding is often used for matt finishes. When the two techniques are used together, a volume effect can be created, highlighting the depth of the mouldings.


 The placement of gold leaf is a very delicate  operation, for the leaf is very fragile and cannot  be touched by hand. A sheet of gold leaf is first  placed on a cushion and handled with a special  gilding knife. It is placed on the workpiece with a  'gilder's tip', a thin, flat squirrel-hair or martin- hair brush. To pick up the leaf, the 'tip' is first  brushed against the gilder’s face (to pick up static  electricity).

 Stripping off the varnish on the giltwork reveals  the different kinds of gold (yellow gold by water  gilding, white gold, green gold, etc.).

Paintwork

 The colouring of the decorative ceiling paintwork has been  determined. The red field uncovered by the restorers is in  good condition and will be retained as it is. This is one of the  unexpected finds of the restoration work. The red paint had  been concealed by other post-construction work. It will now be  returned to pride of place.

 The background of blue sky will be retained. Any  patina will be as slight as possible so as to retain  the freshness of the sky. There is strong colour  symbolism in the layout of the rooms. In the  Golden Gallery, for example, alternation of blue  and green reflects the harmony between sea and earth. The medallions depicting the moon and the sun stand out from a golden background damasked with a red-tinted haze that evokes a streaked and star-studded sky.

 Examination of the cartouches above the  portraits of the admirals revealed that they  contain the names of battles, highlighted in gold.  The restoration will retain the names of the  places where the battles took place: Béveziers  (Beachy Head), Riojaneiro, Le Texel, Messine.

 The names had been obliterated, probably at the  end of the 19^th or 20^th centuries.