A mystery! This huge painting had lain rolled up in the cellar at Astley Hall for many years and was in quite poor condition. It was known that the portrait was of the local Anderton family but the artist was unknown. It is surmised that it could be by Arthur William Devis or perhaps James Northcote (but probably not). It had been decided by the curator to try and get a grant to restore the picture and to try and find out for sure the identity of the artist.
We were commissioned to digitally photograph the painting during the short time it was unrolled on the floor of the Great Hall at Astley, whilst it was being examined by conservators and restoration experts.
Due to it being on the floor, the shots of the full canvas had to be taken from the top of a 15 foot ladder and digitally manipulated to restore the correct perspective and aspect ratio.
We were asked to supply several photo quality A4 prints of the picture as well as CD's containing all the photos taken.