The ceiling of the Cupola Room, Kensington Palace

The ceiling is painted with octagonal coffers in blue and gold, diminishing in size towards the top of the ceiling to create the trompe l’oeil of a four-sided coffered cupola of ancient Roman architecture. In the centre is a large octagonal panel enclosing the Star of the Order of the Garter, symbolising England’s premier chivalric order. The ceiling is also detailed with military trophies, shell motifs and figures with plumed helms in the corners, some of which can be traced to the Palazzo Spada in Rome.

George I commissioned William Kent to remodel and redecorate the State Apartments at Kensington Palace in the 1720s; the project took five years beginning with the Cupola Room. By including the Star of the Order of the Garter, Kent was trying to advertise the ‘Britishness’ of the King, who was from Hanover in Germany; the allusions to Roman architecture (with statues of Roman gods and emperors around the walls of this room) attempted to conjure up a grand imperial image for the new Georgian monarchy. The Cupola Room was later used by George II and Queen Caroline to entertain large groups of guests. The future Queen Victoria was baptised in this room in 1819.