The Paint Shop

The new Paint Shop was built above the rear stage and accommodated two vertical wooden frames for painting backcloths. There were traps in the floor at the base of each frame through which the completed cloths could be lowered to the stage. This photograph shows the scenic artists at work on a back cloth for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera ‘Aida’.

The Paint Shop continued in use until the Royal Opera House closed for refurbishment in July 1997, at which time all of Sachs’s innovations were replaced.

Image from the Edwin O Sachs Photographic Collection

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