Case Histories
Napoleonic gala sedan, Paris, 1805/10 ca.
Jean-Ernest-Auguste Getting
The restoration of Stupinigi’s carriage started from the intersection of historical data and material feedback on the work, involving a team of restorers of wooden furnishings, textiles and metal artefacts, diagnosticians and art historians.
The archival sources and the extensive bibliography on the carriage indicated a stratification of the coats of arms on the two doors, on the front and back of the work marked by the coachbuilder Getting, as has been noted at various points in the structure.
The Napoleonic imperial coat of arms, which at first analysis was repainted, denounced inhomogeneity and stratifications that suggested underlying layers.
In-depth analysis of scientific investigations
Thanks to the use of infrared reflectographies, commonly used for the study of paintings, enhanced for a deeper reading (IR3 at 2700 nanometers), it was possible to go beyond the visible without the need to remove the repainted surface. Below the non-original imperial weapon, the coat of arms of Maria Luigia of Austria, Duchess of Parma from 1814 to 1847, thus following the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, has emerged clearly.
Further investigation, through multispectral analyses and stratigraphic micro-reliefs, has documented a large abraded area below the coat of arms of Maria Luigia with small portions of colour that make it possible to establish the presence of a heraldic representation prior to that of the Duchess of Parma, probably attributable to the original Napoleonic coat of arms.
The restoration
Similarly, the rest of the surface had undergone maintenance and color variations, the result of painting carried out to uniform the signs of engravings, abrasions and color drops. The gilding had a heavy patina of pigmented paints that the restoration has thinned. On the cabin, now painted in black, traces of an intense blue coloring emerged, just as the green of the wheels and the train was originally supposed to appear in light blue shades. The original colours of the carriage were therefore to be entirely in shades of blue and gold in pendant even with the original fabrics of the interior of the carriage in silk and velvet.
The imperial coats of arms visible today, made for market needs at the time of sale in the mid-nineteenth century, were certainly integrated at the time of the restoration of the carriage in May 1955, before the passage to the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi.
The current restoration has for the first time dealt scientifically with the study of the carriage and the choice has been to keep track of the succession of all the phases of the life of the work: from the first decorative version to the museumization as a Napoleonic heirloom.
Starting from Wednesday 5 May 2021, following the restoration carried out at the Centre, Napoleon's carriage is on display in the Scuderia Grande della Reggia di Venaria, included in the visit itinerary Theatre of History and Magnificence.
CCR and accessibility
