Conservators discover elaborate angel murals hidden behind seven layers of white paint in a colonial-era church

Conservators are working to restore colorful angels painted in Boston nearly 300 years ago Old North Churcha historic house of worship made famous by Paul Revere.

Founded in 1723 in the North End neighborhood, the Old North Church is the oldest surviving church building in Boston. The church members were Anglicansa minority compared to the many Puritans lived in Boston during the colonial era.

Around the year 1730, church leaders hired a parishioner named John Gibbs to paint 16 angels on the upper interior arches. Gibbs also painted angels on the organ case and an altar panel, reports Episcopal News Service‘Tracy J. Sukraw.

“Everywhere you looked in the church you saw angels,” said the Rev. Matthew Cadwell, pastor of the church. Episcopal News Service. “It would have been so different than any Puritan church you would have set foot in.”

The winged cherubim adorned the walls for more than 180 years – until 1912, when church officials had them covered in layers of thick white paint.

They stood guard while a 15-year-old named Paul Revere was given the job the ringing of the church bells. Decades later they were still there when Revere made his famous midnight ride to warn of the approaching British army.

On the evening of April 18, 1775, Rever has learned that the British were moving from Boston to the nearby towns of Lexington and Concord. He reached out Robert Nieuwmanthe sexton of the Oude Noordkerk, and asked him to hang two lanterns on the tower of the building. This secret symbol was intended to indicate that the British were rowing across the Charles River, rather than marching overland.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow commemorated this moment in his 1860 poem “Paul Revere’s ride.” He mentioned the church by name and popularized the phrase “one by land, and two by sea.”

It is not clear why the angels were painted over, but they have remained hidden for the past century.

The church’s interior may have been painted white during a “resurgence of this Colonial Revival aesthetic” in the early 20th century, says Lisa Howe, director of Building Conservation Associates, a consulting firm hired to investigate the church’s painted over history to investigate. Boston sphere‘s Julian EJ Sorapuru.

“Painting everything white everywhere was one approach,” she adds. “And if you look at this church, it has a colonial look. So there’s this misconception that, ‘Oh, sure, it was always painted white.’ And that is not the case.”

Now, ahead of the 250th anniversary of Revere’s ride, curators are bringing the angels back into the spotlight. Since September, they have focused their efforts on eight of the angels; they hope to restore the other eight by spring, according to the Boston sphere.

Historical paint restoration: uncovering hidden angels

The $465,000 project “shows our visitors a little piece of the church as Paul Revere would have known it,” said Nikki Stewart, executive director of Old North Illuminate, the nonprofit that helps preserve the historic site. WCVB TV‘s Brianna Borghi. “But it also really deepens interpretations of the religious history of the church, because the church would have been very lavishly decorated at the time of its founding.”

The restoration has been a slow and careful process, as the angels were covered in seven layers of paint, reports the Associated press“Michael Casey. Conservators applied solvent gel to soften the paint before carefully shaving away the layers with plastic scrapers. They then used cotton swabs to gently clean and retouch the underlying angels.

They were surprised to see that each figure has its ‘own character’. Gianfranco Pocobenea curator working on the project, tells the AP.

“They are not copies,” Pocobene adds. “They all have different postures, which gives them a really beautiful rhythmic pattern across the entire surface of the church.”

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