25-DM-2007_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, G. Turcotto, Apostoli

Facilitated description:

 

Apostoli is a wall painting detached from the wall of the church of San Giovanni in Sommariva Perno and hung up on masonite (a wooden panel).
Giorgio Turcotto made it in 1467. The painting is kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin.
The Centre for Conservation and Restoration "La Venaria Reale" (CCR) restored the painting in 2007. Two restoration students participated in the project for their thesis.
The restorers temporarily blocked the raised parts of color with a thin paper. In this way they managed to clean the painting from dust without losing pieces of color.
Then they removed the glue from the period when the painting was detached from the wall.
When the painting was detached it was attached on a canvas and then on a wooden panel. The restorers replaced the canvas with a layer of resin.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the wall paintings detached from the apse from the former church of San Giovanni in Sommariva Perno (CN) was carried out as part of the thesis projects carried out at the degree course in Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage by F. Brigadeci and A. Segimiro entitled Study and proposal of intervention for a torn wall painting: "Apostles" by Giorgio Turcotto preserved at the Galleria Sabauda.

Restoration

The restoration began with the velinatura with Japanese paper and glue on the fragment in view of transport. The incoherent deposits of atmospheric particulate matter were then removed with soft brushstrokes and the pictorial surface was cleaned with cotton swabs soaked in gel. Since on fragments F and G there were residues of strong glue, an adhesive used to make the tear that caused the lifting of the pictorial film, it was decided to proceed with their elimination by swelling with water and cotton swabs. For the larger residues, chemical treatment and subsequent rinsing were carried out using thin layers of Japanese paper, while enzymes were used for the portion of the background. Finally, to reduce the igroscopicity of the fresco, the support cloth was removed and replaced with an intervention layer with acrylic resin in emulsion.

 

Bibliography

Study and proposal of intervention for a torn wall painting: "Apostles" by Giorgio Turcotto preserved at the Galleria Sabauda, dissertation, F. Brigadeci (part 1), A. Segimiro (part 2), Prof. Emanuela Ozino Calegaris, academic year 2008-2009.