Safety first
(Ceiling in the painting gallery at Sanssouci: Potsdam, Germany)
Let’s journey back a couple of months to my time in Berlin. This is a ceiling in the painting gallery at Sanssouci that I was busy marveling at. The entire place is clad in rare marble and festooned with gold leaf. This is the ceiling of an adjoing annexe to the long corridor gallery, housing some Dutch and Italian masterpieces. Rather than showcasing any familiar artworks on display, I thought you might like to see this ceiling – or rather, the wonky limpet-like smoke alarm that has been tacked to the centre of it.
I am all for putting safety first, especially in a busy public place full of ‘old masters’, but I cannot believe that this is the best effort at alarm concealment currently practiced in Germany. I have seen some ridiculous botched jobs in my time (and even completed a few myself) but I can say with certainty I have never spoiled anything as special as this. If you can imagine that this is merely one miniscule portion of the Sanssouci complex, the rest is even more gaudily coated in intricate gold filigree and world class craftsmanship – they seem to stretch for miles of corridor and through countless rooms.
– Today Rosie is drawing, ready for the Edinburgh exhibition in one week, she’s in Glasgow, UK –
