Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1474575
fascinated by the decorative element hanging above the royal box in the Court Theatre at the Royal Palace of Caserta where the series had shot during season one. That crown had drapes descending from it and these drapes were held open by flying cherubs. ll of this had also been sculpted in wood and then painted, so this was my starting point for designing the altar piece. Once Catherine took over, the production was keen to show signs of the palace being repaired and made sure we found the beats and the spaces to tell that story. In our main salon, most of the original dark and gruesome stilllife pictures had been burnt, so we showed how in the process of restoring the palace, Catherine had temporarily replaced the paintings with gilded panels. Eventually, this was to be entirely reconverted into Shakey's salon—a female character who was a serf, yet a talented painter whom Catherine uses to prove to the court that serfs could bear talents and should be freed. Shakey's paintings were, in fact, Pietro Rotari's portraits which the historical Catherine had bought from the painter's widow to decorate the Cabinet of Fashions and Graces or The Painting all in the Palace of Peterhoff. The original room which was replicated contained three hundred twentyeight portraits. The reason I was so drawn to this room and wanted to recreate it on our sets was the fact that Rotari had been known for A. SCULPTED DETAIL FROM THE CROWN. OF THE CORONATION ALTAR. B. SCULPTED DETAILS- CHERUBS FOR THE CORONATION AND BABY SHOWER SET. C. PRODUCTION PHOTO BY GARETH GATRELL. D. THE MARBLE SALON. SEASON 2 PRODUCTION STILL. 68 PANELS OF HAND- PAINTED MARBLE. PAINTED BY IN-HOUSE SCENIC PAINTERS BOUDICCA COLLINS, CRISTINA CAMAROTA, LISA DICKINSON AND SAMANTHA FELLOWES. A B C D