In Boston’s Old North Church, tour guides shepherd a steady stream of visitors through the red brick building, pointing out the giant paned windows, chandeliers and instruments that embellish the sanctuary’s white walls.
But these days, the tour is taking a slightly altered route to accommodate a preservation project and giant scaffolding towering 35 feet above the floor.
Up there, crews are working to uncover the art — including a host of painted angels — that have remained hidden beneath layers of paint for generations.
Built in 1723, Old North is the oldest standing church in Boston, made famous for the lanterns that hung from its steeple on the night of April 18, 1775, signaling to Paul Revere that the British troops had chosen to advance by sea, rather than by land.
“Spaces that allow us to touch history in a very palpable way — that allow us to connect over time with people — are very, very special,” said Catherine Matthews, director of education for Old North Illuminated, the secular nonprofit entrusted with preservation, interpretation and education at the church.
Matthews is part of the team responsible for the restoration project underway in Old North’s west gallery.
“About seven years ago, we embarked on a paint study to see if the original paint scheme, which was so decorative, so ornate and so colorful, survived underneath this very austere, neutral palette that was painted in 1912. And much to our delight, we found that it did survive,” she said.
In 2016, a single cherub — nicknamed “Howard” in honor of a late supporter of the church — was revealed to be in good enough shape to warrant an expansion of the effort. Under the guidance of head artist Gianfranco Pocobene, 15 additional cherubs and accompanying festoons of ribbon and flowers will be restored, gracing the church’s spandrels and pilasters in time to honor the approaching 250th anniversary of Revere’s midnight ride.
“This is one of the earliest decorations in America that seems to be intact or mostly intact,” said Pocobene. “And so that’s really amazing that we’re going back almost 300 years to see and understand what the congregation there would have been surrounded by, which is really, really cool.”
Pocobene is a conservator and restorer of paintings, murals and fine art across New England, having worked on landmarks like the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. Even with that expertise, the process of revealing the cherubs without damaging them is daunting.
“We really have to go into it very carefully and slowly and test a whole range of materials and solvents and cleaning solutions. You just don’t want to make the assumption that the one thing you tried the first time is what’s going to work, and that’s a slow process until we really get going,” he said.
Art meets science
Conservation work is equal parts art and science, as testified by Pocobene’s assistant Travis Zuidema, a recent graduate of Queen’s University’s Masters of Art Conservation program.
“As oil paint dries, it polymerizes, and you actually get a lot of cross-linking. And so the last layer is going to be a little bit more robust and want to stay adhered a little bit better. And we can kind of use that idea to attack the top layer without harming the bottom layer too much,” Zuidema said.
Drawn to the field by its use of analytical chemistry, Zuidema has a deep understanding of the chemical processes required to do this work.
He said it’s probably helpful that the church’s walls — which were painted white during the peak of immigration in the tenement era — were likely filthy when the cherubs were sealed off.
“The dirt actually creates a little bit of an air gap between each of the paint surfaces, and that helps with the physical removal,” he said.
As high-stakes as the work of painting conservation can be, the tools are familiar: plastic spatulas, cotton swabs, solvents. And Zuidema says the process itself is pleasant.
“People always walk up to us, [and] they say, ‘That looks so tedious.’ And we’re like, ‘This is, like, Nirvana. This is like the best thing in the world,’” he said.
And yet, there is no avoiding the fact that the slow, quiet work of art restoration is at odds with the chaotic reality swirling 40 feet beneath the artists’ heads.
Old North Church is both an active congregation and one of the most high-profile tourist destinations in Boston.
“A lot of [tourists] are actually coming up to the balcony on the other level to have a look at what we’re up to. And sometimes people are gasping and say, ‘Look at that!’” he said.
A 250th anniversary approaches
In a divisive election year, and on the cusp of our nation’s semiquincentennial, preservation efforts like the one at Old North Church raise important questions about our country and its past.
Pacobene, the main artist leading the restoration, is himself new to American citizenship, after having a U.S. green card for around three decades.
“What’s really amazing to me is the sense of connection that Americans have with their history,” said Pocobene. “It’s really strong, and I’ve come to appreciate it basically working on many of these projects in historic spaces, which really tell a lot about the attitude of America.”
Pocobene and his crew plan to uncover four of the original angels. He’ll paint replicas of the others before transferring them to the church.
Come April, just in time for the 250th anniversary of that famous midnight ride, the sanctuary is expected to look like it did when Paul Revere and his neighbors knew it.
You can keep up with project updates on Old North Church’s website, or visit through December to see the conservationists in action.
