
Dr. Elizabeth Woolley ACR
About Me
Elizabeth Woolley graduated from a dedicated wall painting conservation Masters programme in 2010, and since then has worked internationally and domestically. She has extensive experience of conservation documentation, including quinquennial condition surveys of the wall paintings at the Palace of Westminster. She has taught conservation in the classroom and supervised on site, both in the UK and abroad. In the UK, she has run practical conservation projects for large organisation such as Historic Royal Palace, and for small parish churches.
Elizabeth completed her PhD research on the materials and techniques of Victorian ecclesiastical wall painting, and as such is familiar with the nineteenth-century wall painting revival, and the associated new techniques, which included waterglass. She has lectured on her research to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
She founded Opus Conservation with fellow conservator Samuel Whittaker in 2018. The practice is based in the UK and has a portfolio of national and international experience encompassing: cultural heritage documentation; condition assessment with technical and diagnostic investigation; control and treatment of deterioration in wall paintings and other decorated architectural surfaces. Elizabeth and Samuel have experience working on wall paintings of different media and from a range of historical periods, from modern and Victorian to Ancient Egyptian.
Training
Ph.D. Courtauld Institute of Art Commercial Domination of English ecclesiastical mural painting 1860-1910: demand, supply, technology and significance.
MA Conservation of Wall Painting, Courtauld Institute of Art
MA (Cantab) History & Economics, University of Cambridge
Work History
Client: Houses of Parliament Project: Conservation of two monumental waterglass paintings by Daniel Maclise in the Royal Gallery A joint project with Perry Lithgow Partnership. Unusual technique necessitated synthesising archival material and new research before beginning treatment trials and rolling out remedial conservation. Work was carried out over several three-week phases while the business of the House continued. Project shortlisted for an M+H Restoration/Conservation Project 2020.
Client: Private Project: Conservation of C17 earthen technology wall paintings The Old Monastery, Cambridgeshire
Client: PCC St John the Baptist, Holland Road, London Project: Conservation of painted reredos panels (c. 1900) after a fire.
Client: Historic Royal Palaces Project: Conservation of painted wooden panelling at Tower Green 4 and 5, Tower of London