1907 and cost around £30,000. Great Staircase The great staircase was built , probably under the direction of William Winde. The ceiling painting is by Verrio, and probably depicts Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II, who restored William Herbert to his Welsh estates and made him 1st Earl of Powis (of the first creation) in 1674. The painting's inspiration is likely the Apotheosis of Venice in the Doge's Palace, by Paolo Veronese. The staircase has been closed to visitors to the castle for many years, due to structural instability. In 2017 the Trust began fundraising efforts to fund a restoration. A structural survey, undertaken in 2020, investigated whether the staircase vibrations, caused by visitor footfall, were the cause of damage to the wall and ceiling paintings. The report’s authors concluded that there was not a direct link, but emphasised the challenge of balancing the needs of visitors with the requirement to maintain historic fabrics. State Dining Room The dining room was created by Bodley by the re-amalgamation of two smaller rooms.The fourth earl took a very close interest in Bodley's work, and influenced much of the decoration. The chimneypieces in the room were copied from examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the ceiling from The Reindeer Inn, a public house in Banbury, both at the earl's suggestion. The room contains a portrait of Henrietta Clive, Countess of Powis (1758–1830), painted in 1777 by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The Countess was daughter of Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Powis and wife of Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis. The hat and the lace scarf which she wears in the portrait are not shown in an engraving of the same subject dating to 1778 and appear to have been added later. State Bedroom A remarkable survival of the 1660s, the State Bedroom is the only one in Britain where a balustrade still rails off the bed alcove from the rest of the room. The design demonstrates the desire of the Anglo-Welsh aristocracy to emulate the etiquette that regulated the court of Louis XIV at Versailles. The room is attributed to William Winde, at the time of his work on the gardens. When improvements to the castle were being considered in 1772, the architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard recommended that the bedroom be preserved. The bed itself dates from this period of reconstruction. The room was designed to receive Charles II, and