53-AL-2006_Nichelino, Stupinigi Hunting Lodge, G. M. Bonzanigo, M. Rapous, Specchiera, inv. 297

Facilitated description:

 

The mirror has a painted and gilded wooden frame and decorations with leaves and flowers.
In 1784 Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo and Michele Rapous created the frame.
Bonzanigo made the wooden parts and Rapous painted the decorations.
The mirror is kept at the Hunting Palace of Stupinigi.
The Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale restored the mirror in 2008 after its discovery. The mirror was stolen in 2004.
The restorers have placed the mirror in an anoxic chamber (room without oxygen that serves to eliminate insects that feed on wood).
They carried out a cleaning (cleaned the surface from the dirt deposited over time or from the layers of old restorations).
They replaced the metal supports of the upper part of the frame with steel pieces.
They have eliminated the materials of previous restorations (glue, ruined paint).
They filled the small wooden gaps with stucco (plaster and glue) and rebuilt some roses of the frame.
In the end, the restorers painted the mirror decoration to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the mirror, carried out by Giuseppa Maria Bonzanigo and Michele Rapous, was completed in 2008 under the supervision of Pinin Brambilla Barcilon. The intervention was carried out on the occasion of the discovery of the nucleus of works stolen from the hunting lodge of Stupinigi in 2004. After the restoration, the work was relocated, together with the twin mirror inv. 296, at the Palazzina.

 

Restoration

The work was subjected to disinfestation in anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks. Subsequently, differentiated surface cleaning was carried out depending on the materials. The metal bars behind the spike have been replaced by steel bars. Pre-existing glues, resins and paints have been removed. The fragments of the carved decoration were then repositioned and glued, in some cases inserting wooden or steel pins. Subsequently, the deepest gaps caused by fractures were consolidated, the smallest missing parts were reconstructed, and the golden surface and colour consolidations were carried out. The atmospheric deposits were then removed and the pictorial reintegration of the grouting was carried out.
In agreement with the Works Department, the lacunous decorations of the cornice and the right side have been reinstated through casts made on the twin mirror. The old sculpture remakes have been made homogeneous with watercolor veils and watercolor colored pencils.
Finally, all over the surface was itself a protective film.