06-SL-2005_Turin, Savoy Gallery, Apostle, inv. 170

Facilitated description:

 

The painted wooden sculpture of the apostle was made during the 1500s.
The sculpture represents an apostle (follower of Jesus) with a book in his hand.
The sculpture is kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the sculpture in 2005.
The sculpture had lost its original colors and was very ruined.
The Center's scientists did scientific analysis to pinpoint the restorations of the past and see all the layers of paint.
Scientists have discovered four layers of paint. The statue has been repainted four times according to the fashions of the time.
The restorers removed the recent color and left the second layer of paint exposed because it was the most preserved.
In the end they filled the color gaps with lighter colors. In this way the colored parts during the restoration are recognizable compared to the original ones.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The intervention on the sculpture of Apostle The project for the transfer of the Galleria Sabauda to the Manica Nuova of Palazzo Reale is part of a Venetian project. The results of the study and restoration were presented at the exhibition 8 restorations from ‘La Venaria Reale’. The Conservation and Restoration Centre: a new reality for cultural heritage, (Turin – Palazzo Bricherasio, Sale storico, 26 January – 4 February 2007) testifying to the great work of initiating the activities of the various restoration laboratories and the parallel refurbishment of the Reggia di Venaria.

Restoration

The statue has reached the laboratories of the Center almost canceled in its original color and with a substantial weakening of the wooden support. The preservation of the pictorial layers was extremely critical, probably due to prolonged exposure to the outside of the building. To document the state of conservation, the previous restorations and the succession of colours, stratigraphic surveys, surveys and mappings were carried out, which revealed the overlapping of four repaintings (in line with the custom widespread between the 18th and 19th centuries to renew the colouring of wooden statuary in accordance with the evolution of taste and devotional needs). The restoration of the Apostle was therefore a conservative operation: recent traces of colour have been removed, for which extensive documentation has been produced for the study, and the second colour spread (now historicised and present in greater quantities) has been maintained. Finally, in order to standardize the surface, the gaps were treated with a neutral tone accorded to the surrounding colors, thus keeping the integrated parts identifiable.

 

Bibliography

- S. Villano, S. De Blasi, data sheets, in 8 Restorations from ‘La Venaria Reale. The Conservation and Restoration Centre: a new reality for cultural heritage”, catalogue of the exhibition 26 January-4 February 2007, Turin, Palazzo Bricherasio, 2007, pp. 21-25.