26-AL-2007_Nichelino, Stupinigi Hunting Lodge, Screen, inv. 968

Facilitated description:

 

The screen consists of 4 panels of silk and a wooden structure.
The screen is kept at the Hunting Palace of Stupinigi.
The Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale restored the screen in 2007 on the occasion of an exhibition.
The restorers have consolidated (made more stable) the wooden structure that supports the screen.
The golden frame had gaps (lack) in the decoration at the top. 
The restorers reconstructed the missing parts with walnut wood.
They carried out a cleaning (cleaned the surface from the dirt deposited over time or from the layers of old restorations).
They integrated (filled) with a layer of plaster and glue the decoration gaps.
They supplemented (filled) the gilding gaps.
Then they cleaned the fabric parts and sewed the torn parts.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the screen, attributed to Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, was carried out in 2007 in view of the exhibition of the screen at the exhibition The Palace of Venaria and the Savoy. Art, magnificence and history of a European court held at Reggia di Venaria, 12 October 2007 - 30 March 2008.

 

Restoration

At the level of the wooden support of the screen, the 45°-degree joint was glued and part of the decoration of the top with walnut wood essence was integrated.
The decorative coating was consolidated and then cleaned with an emulsion, while the purple was mechanically removed with a scalpel. Subsequently, the gaps were grouted and the decorative coating was reintegrated with gouache gilding, then coated with watercolors.
The panels were cleaned with micro-aspiration and the lacerations were consolidated by applying protective veils in pure silk (Lyon veil), stopped with regular scanning stitches in silk thread, dyed in the relevant shade. Finally, a needle consolidation was carried out with a point laid of the lacerations of the lampasso on the back of the panels.

 

Bibliography

S. Damiano, Schedule 14.2, in E. Castelnuovo (edited by), "The Palace of Venaria and the Savoy. Art, magnificence and history of a European court" (exhibition catalogue), Torino 2007, II, pp. 242-23