17mc26/27/28/29/30/86-AL-2103_Nichelino, Stupinigi Hunting Lodge, 6 Candlesticks, invv. 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106

Facilitated description: 

 

The 6 candlesticks are works of gilded wood and metal that serve to support the candles.
The candlesticks were made during the 1700s.
The candlesticks are kept at the Hunting Palace of Stupinigi, in the Scudieri room.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the cross in 2013. 
The restorers have placed the candlesticks in an anoxic chamber (room without oxygen that serves to eliminate insects that eat wood). 
They cleaned the candlesticks of dust and wax.
They stopped the gilding parts that were coming off.  
They filled with stucco (plaster and glue) the missing wood parts and holes caused by insects eating the wood. 
They painted the stucco with watercolors. 
They put a product against insects that eat wood. 
In the end they painted the candlesticks to protect them from the sun's rays and dust. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

Initially the works were placed in anoxic chamber for disinfestation for a period of three weeks. A chemical cleaning of the deposits and the mechanical scalpel removal of the most consistent sediments were then carried out on the entire golden surface. On the back, a mechanical cleaning was carried out with medium soft rubbers and the wax present in the candle holders was removed. Subsequently, a layer of rust converter was spread over the entire surface discovered by the gold leaf. The gaps were filled with stucco (bologna plaster and animal glue) and bismuth additions and then blunted in the overflowing parts. The fillers have been chromatically integrated with watercolor colors and mica powder. The flickering holes, on the other hand, were filled with waxy putty added with natural pigments. Finally, preventive disinfestation with anti-moth solution was carried out and the final painting was carried out.