07-SL-2005_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, San Gioacchino, inv. sc. 248

Facilitated description:

 

The painted wooden sculpture of St. Joachim was made during the 1600s.
The statue represents St. Joachim with a golden dress and 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 restorers placed the statue in an anoxic chamber, an oxygen-free chamber that serves to eliminate wood-eating insects.
They inserted wooden tiles into the cleft of the wrist, filled in the lacks of gilding.
They eliminated the index finger of the hand remade in modern times because it was not suitable.
They cleaned the surface painted with dirt.
In the end they filled the color gaps with a layer of putty (plaster and glue). They colored the putty with watercolors.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

Restoration

The restoration of the wooden sculpture of the Galleria Sabauda involved different phases of intervention on the support and on the pictorial surface. For the wooden component, a disinfestation in anoxic chamber and a general cleaning were carried out. The operations of consolidation and positioning of a cherry wood insert at the crack on the right wrist were followed. In addition, the index finger of the left hand was removed, recently and coarsely made, and gilding gaps were treated.
The main interventions at the level of the decorated surface, on the other hand, provided for the consolidation of the pictorial film and gilding. The subsequent cleaning phase allowed to remove the thick oil-resinous layer that covered the surface. During this operation, a slight reddish film was highlighted on the gold leaf – presumably laid out to confirm the gold leaf additions from the previous restoration – which it was decided to preserve. Finally, the repaintings were removed, the gaps were grouted and the watercolor pictorial retouching was performed.