The Trompe l'oeil Walls in the Staircase Hall

Louis Chéron c. 1695
oil on plaster

The grisaille compositions on the walls of the staircase are takenfrom the bas-reliefs on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. The 'oldHistory painting on ye walls of ye Staircase' was cleaned andvarnished by the house painter John Dandridge who also painted the'iron rails on ye great Staircase' (Executors' Accounts, vol I ff.163,169). The parquet floor is, after that at Ham House, one of theearliest examples of parquet de Versailles in England and wassupplied by the Huguenot joiner Peter Rieusset.

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