Public Catalogue Foundation establish a commercial digitisation service

Having completed the oil painting project in 2012 and building on our considerable digitisation and cataloguing experience, the PCF has set up a commercial digitisation service, offering professional object photography and cataloguing to both private and public collections. These new services have received considerable interest from institutions around the UK. Our first clients have included Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Manx National Heritage.

Another early client of the PCF’s Digitisation Services was St Paul’s Cathedral. The Cathedral is in the process of creating better online access to its collections and asked the PCF to photograph their collection of paintings. Many did not have high resolution images or had not been photographed before.

The Cathedral’s oil paintings are an extraordinary and eclectic assortment and many have never been on public display. Highlights include William Holman Hunt’s Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece The Light of the World. A notable group of portraits of former Deans and Canons identify some of to the personalities behind the Cathedral’s development and many accomplishments. The collection also includes two major allegorical works by G.F. Watts; Sir James Thornhill’s scenes from the life of Saint Paul, depicting the saint’s dramatic conversion and key moments in his subsequent apostolic adventures; and canvases by artists such as, Hugh Stannus and W.E.F Britten who, although less well known, made a significant contribution to the completion of the decoration of St Paul’s in the 19th century.

The PCF spent two days at the Cathedral photographing the oil paintings and a small collection of chalk and gouache works on paper. A visit was also made to the Watts Gallery in Surrey to photograph the painting Peace and Goodwill which is on loan to the gallery from St Paul’s. The St Paul’s Cathedral oil paintings collection has been added to Your Paintings. A small group of paintings are currently being conserved and were unavailable for photography, but it is hoped that they can be added to Your Paintings at a later date.

The PCF’s Digitisation Services are available to public and private collections in all parts of the UK. We offer help and advice with cataloguing, photography and copyright. For further information and a free quote, please contact Katey Goodwin.