04mc03-AL-2009_Nichelino, Stupinigi Hunting Lodge, F. Bolgiè, Desk with lift, inv. 1620

Facilitated description:

 

The desk with lift is a wooden furniture painted blue formed by a scribes and a wardrobe. 
Francesco Bolgiè created the desk in 1790-1811.
The desk is kept at Stupinigi's hunting lodge.
The "La Venaria Reale" Conservation and Restoration Centre (CCR) restored the desk in 2009.
The restorers placed the desk in an anoxic chamber, an oxygen-free chamber that serves to eliminate wood-eating insects.
Then they dusted the work and glued the parts that were coming off.
The restorers painted the groutings (plaster and glue used to cover the wood shortages) with watercolors.
In the end, they painted the entire desk to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

A disinfestation was carried out in the anoxic chamber on the desk support and subsequently the atmospheric deposits were removed with soft brushstrokes. On the pictorial surface and in particular in the areas that had lifts was made a consolidation of the color by syringing and brush application of animal collection. Subsequently, the volatile atmospheric deposits were removed and cleaning operations were carried out on the entire surface thanks to the use of soft rubbers. In addition, some plastering carried out during previous restorations and considered no longer suitable was eliminated, while the gaps were supplemented with plaster and animal glue and the excesses were removed with scalpel and brass cloth. The fragments of the sculpted decoration raised or partially detached have been repositioned and glued with animal glue and in correspondence of the vegetable decoration friezes of the side frames of the furniture some carving parts have been integrated to overcome the interruption of the overall decorative reading. Finally, a chromatic lowering was performed with watercolor color veils and watercolor colored pencils in correspondence of small fractures of the applied friezes and a protective film was spread over the entire surface.