The Cupola Room was the most exuberant addition William Kent made to Kensington Palace in the reign of George I. Originally, Sir James Thornhill had been commissioned to decorate its fictive coffered dome, but his estimate was considered unreasonably high. Acting as decorative painter as well as architect, Kent decorated the walls with painted wooden pilasters and white marble niches housing gilt-lead statues of Roman deities. Probably acquired by George IV Cat. 30