The ceilings at Hazelwood, Co. Sligo, a house which Richard Castle designed c. 1731, are among the earliest surviving examples in his architectural oeuvre. The most important of these is the groin-vaulted and coffered saloon, which is an interesting precursor to the kind of dynamic designs Castle would employ in the Music Room and Library at Russborough in the 1740s. Unlike in a traditional groin vault whereby two barrel vaults intersect, sometimes with emphasis at the junctions to form a rib vault, here the intersecting edges are chamfered into broad curving surfaces to form a four-pointed star.
At the centre of the ceiling is a weighty oak wreath, the cardinal points of which are punctuated with scallop shells. Inside the wreath is a deeply set enriched modillion cornice. Overall, the form of the ceiling is drawn out by contrasting geometrical shapes, surface patterns and textures, while the tiny irregularities of the craftsman’s hand inject a spirited energy into the detailing.
The diversity of composition, profile and handling in the 1740s plasterwork schemes at Russborough, Co. Wicklow, suggests a number of distinct hands, as implied by a visitor to the house c.1746 who noted ‘artificers from most parts of Europe are employed in this great new work’. Contracting for the plasterwork of individual rooms was common practice in Europe in the period and conservation findings at Russborough suggest that the ceilings were executed in two phases. Architects reportedly pitched craftsmen against one another to achieve optimum results, a practice abhorred by practitioners. The coved Saloon ceiling exhibits the virtuoso vegetal and figurative modelling of the Lafranchini brothers, those of the Library and Music Room depend upon inventive patterns of coffering, while the Drawing Room, Dining Room and Stair Hall exhibit cruder and more vigorous acanthus ornament.
One of the aims of CRAFTVALUE’s work at Russborough was to better capture some of the crafted surfaces inside the house. To this end, photogrammetry was used to survey several of the ceilings, which can be seen below. This allows the ceilings to be understood in various forms. While an orthographic view captures well the symmetry and pattern of the design, it reduces everything to a single plane. Isometric and perspective views capture better the relationship between the ornamental pattern and the formal arrangement of the coving. The animation brings the viewer into the ceiling coving, providing a perspective impossible to achieve from the ground.
The views of the saloon ceiling (above and below) were created from a combination of 353 photographs using VisualSFM before being converted into a mesh using MeshLab.
The plasterwork on the staircase at Russborough, slightly later in date to the main rooms, is bold, vigorous and untamed, suggesting a plasterer left to his own devices. To display this work, we have joined forces with Rebecca O’Reilly who conducted a laser scan of several of the main rooms of the house for her qualification in Applied Building Repair and Conservation (P.Grad.Dip.) at Trinity College Dublin during the academic year 2022/23. For a description of her project, follow this link. Rebecca kindly gave us access to the point cloud to make the following animation of the space.