§ 3.39 p.m.
§ THE EARL OF HUNTINGDON rose to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will not reconsider their decision to discharge nearly half the artist staff employed in the Ancient Monuments division of the Ministry of Works in restoration and maintenance, in view of the very small saving of money entailed in proportion to the large consequential deterioration to the art treasures of this country. The noble Earl said: My Lords, this Question requires a little explanation. As I understand it, the situation is that in the Ancient Monuments division of the Ministry of Works about thirteen artists are employed protecting Crown property—that is to say, maintaining, looking after and, if necessary, restoring such things as oil paintings, drawings, mural paintings, painted ceilings, monuments, sculptural inscriptions, and so on. They are to be found in the Royal Palaces, and include the collection of pictures which Her Majesty the Queen has so generously lent in the past to our great exhibitions, and works of art in the Houses of Parliament, Embassies, Government buildings, and even certain National Trust properties. These men are extremely skilled and highly trained. Some of them have been trained at the Courtauld Institute in this restoration and their work, I can assure your Lordships, is of great delicacy and skill. There is nothing more difficult than repairing a plaster ceiling which has crumbled, or rebacking the canvas of a painting which is disintegrating owing to the passing of the years.
§ As an economy measure, I understand, the Government are to dismiss a large portion of this staff. Indeed, I am told that notices of dismissal have already 23 been given to six out of the thirteen of this staff of restorers. There is also a threat, I understand, to get rid of their office and studio-workshop where all the most delicate work of this kind is undertaken. The total saving in salaries effected through getting rid of these six men will, I understand, be something under £4,000 a year. I suggest that for the sake of saving this comparatively ridiculous amount it is a terrible thing to risk the serious deterioration which will occur in these big collections of paintings and other works of art in Crown property. It is the best example I have ever known of "spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar." A few of these works of art are of no great merit, I admit, but many are extremely good. I do not want to weary your Lordships, but I have a long list here of many works of art that have been restored and of others proposed to be restored, and I should like to take just one or two examples to show the kind of work done by these men during the last year and some of the work intended to be done.
§ I take your Lordships' House first of all. The murals we see around us have been restored by six artists; the frescoes in the King's Robing Room have been restored by nine artists, and those in the House of Lords Corridor by two artists. In the House of Commons, sixteen paintings have been restored by five artists in the last year and up to April. I would also mention the very fine work for the preservation of the fifteenth and sixteenth century inscriptions in the Beauchamp Tower, the completion of the Rubens ceiling in the Banqueting Hall, Whitehall (which was one of the most difficult and hazardous jobs of restoration), the restoration of the Holbein ceiling in the Royal Chapel, St. James's Palace, the restoration of the early wall paintings in the Chapter House, Westminster Abbey, the restoration of frescoes at Carlton Gardens, the restoration of the Angelica Kauffmann Room, Dover House, Whitehall, and the restoration of the murals on the King's Staircase in Kensington Palace. I will not go on reading from the list, but I have another whole page of these things. It certainly gives an idea what a burden of work these men have maintained during the last year.
§ Their future programme, which is even more involved, entails such matters as the 24 cleaning and restoration of the Entrance Hall to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, which is in a terrible state, the cleaning and restoration of the Queen's Staircase paintings at Hampton Court Palace, which are black and almost falling to pieces, and which will provide work for two artists for six months at least; the cleaning and restoration of murals in the Crypt of St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster Hall, and the cleaning of murals in the Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore, I could go on ad infinitum. In fact, these men have ahead of them a ten years' programme of work which a staff of thirteen, I imagine, can scarcely be expected within reason to undertake. The answer of the Minister, I imagine. may well be: "It is all very well, but we shall get outside contractors to do the work." If that is the case, where is the economy? If you have a volume of work unceasingly being done, no economy is effected by bringing in outside contractors, who besides paying their workmen must also get a large profit for themselves. In fact, I am fortunate enough to be able to give your Lordships an example of this in the case of the restoration of the Holbein ceiling at St. James's Palace of which I have just been speaking. The actual cost of this, including the salaries for the artists, was £1,400. An outside estimate had previously been obtained for doing the same work, and it was £5,000.
§ I ask your Lordships: where is the economy in getting an outside contractor? And, in practice, of course, what few reliable outside restorers there are have already more work than they can handle, restoring paintings in private collections and in public and municipal galleries. It is very difficult to get a reliable restorer these days who can undertake work of this kind. I am afraid the inevitable result, if there is to be economy in this connection, will be that works of art will be allowed to deteriorate and rot. That is why I put this Question to the Government, and why I appeal to men of all Parties, for I am not raising this as a Party issue. It is, I submit, a national matter, and I think we ought to take a stand against allowing these very great works of art to deteriorate in order to save this really insignificant sum of money. I beg Her Majesty's Government to reconsider what I think is a very ill-considered decision.