Old North Church undergoing paint conservation and restoration project

Special to the Review

An interior revolution is underway at Boston’s Old North Church and Historic Site. On Sept 30, a 6-month paint conservation and restoration project began to uncover 18th-century painted angels hidden beneath layers of white overpaint on the balcony arches in the church’s sanctuary. I invite you to join renowned paintings and murals conservator Gianfranco Pocobene for the multi-step process that has begun at Old North Church in Boston’s North End and will continue through late March.

The angels at the center of this work were painted by John Gibbs, an accomplished decorative painter and congregation member, who completed Old North Church’s first major interior decoration, including the painting of 16 angels, between 1727 and the 1730s. The angels are depicted as cherubs, with round childlike faces and wings.

While Old North Church once boasted a colorful interior filled with intricate and ornate designs, all of this artwork – including Gibbs’s angels – was painted over with white paint in 1912. However, a paint study conducted in 2017 revealed that the lost cherubs still exist. Expert craftspeople painstakingly removed layers of white paint to partially uncover one of the angels painted in 1727. Old North’s team nicknamed this angel “Howard” in honor of a beloved advocate and supporter of the church.

The 2024-2025 paint restoration project is restoring more of Gibbs’s work: the rest of the angels and decorative festoons between them. In order to uncover the angels, lead conservator Gianfranco Pocobene and his team apply a solvent gel similar to a paint stripper that softens the layers of white paint, manually remove the overpaint with a plastic scraper, and then do additional cleaning with a cotton swab covered in solvents. An exciting discovery has been that Gibbs’s angels do not have identical faces; each one was designed to be unique. Watch this video interview with Gianfranco to learn more.

“The timing of this project is particularly exciting. As we approach the 250th anniversary of Old North’s signal lanterns and Paul Revere’s midnight ride in April 2025, visitors to the church will get a glimpse of the sanctuary as Revere knew it,” said Nikki Stewart, Executive Director of Old North Illuminated.

This project will be done in two phases:

• Phase 1 (through Dec.): Gianfranco and his team will work on scaffolding in the rear of the church while they conduct the work and test solvent mixtures on small areas of paint. The winning solution will be used on the surface to swell and dissolve an estimated three to four layers of paint, which will be delicately stripped away to reveal 8 of the hidden angels. The project will then pause as scaffolding will come down for holiday services in the church.

 • Phase 2 (mid-Jan. through late March): Scaffolding will go back up in the front of the church to continue the stripping process. Eight more angels will be revealed. In early 2025, visitors will see half of the work complete and the other half in progress, making it an ideal time for media coverage. The grand reveal, when all 16 angels will be uncovered, will be in April.

“The step-by-step uncovering of the angels at Old North Church is revealing fascinating aspects of John Gibbs’s painting tech