17mc59-60-AL-2013_Nichelino, Stupinigi Hunting Lodge, 2 Armchairs, inv. 1135, 1136

Facilitated description: 

 

The 2 armchairs are made of gilded wood and fabric.
The 2 armchairs were made towards the end of the 1700s.
The armchairs are kept in the Hunting Palace of Stupinigi, in the King's Bedroom.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the armchairs in 2013. 
The restorers have placed the armchairs in an anoxic chamber (room without oxygen that serves to eliminate insects that eat wood). 
They cleaned the chairs of dust.
They stopped the 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 armchairs to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

Initially the chairs are subjected to disinfestation in anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks. A chemical cleaning of the deposits and the mechanical removal of the most consistent sediments were then carried out on the entire golden surface. On the painted surface a mechanical cleaning was carried out with rubbers of various softness. The consolidation of the lifts was carried out with injections of acrylic resin. The gaps were grouted and chromatically integrated with watercolor colors and mica powder. The flickering holes have been 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.