21mc001-TE-2008_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, A. Van Dyck, Prince Thomas of Savoy Carignano, inv. 743, cat. 17

Facilitated description:

 

Prince Thomas of Savoy Carignano is a painting on canvas.
Anton Van Dyck painted the painting in 1634.
The painting is kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin.
The restorers of the La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting in 2008.
They cleaned the painting to get rid of the dust.
They made small painting interventions to fix the damaged parts.
They painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.
The restorers also cleaned the frame.
They filled the wooden gaps with stucco (plaster and glue layer).
In the end they colored the stiucco with watercolors and gold leaf.

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The painting was restored on the occasion of the exhibition De Van Dyck in Bellotto. Splendeurs à la cour de Savoie at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (20 February 2009 - 24 May 2009). Before the restoration it had been exhibited at the inaugural exhibition of the Reggia di Venaria Reggia di Venaria and the Savoy. Art, Magnificence and History of a European Court (12 October 2007 - 30 March 2008).

Restoration

The restoration of the painting began with the intervention on the support, which was cleaned of the reverse and the frame and re-tensioned. Subsequently, the paint surface was cleaned, with a slight removal of inconsistent deposits, and solubility tests were carried out to obtain information on surface painting. The cleaning dowels carried out identified a layer of overlay paint and highlighted a cooler shade of the original pictorial film, which is dissonant compared to previous touch-ups. Therefore, in agreement with the Directorate of Works, it was decided to keep the above retouching and not to proceed with the removal of the paint, but to do a slight surface cleaning with ligroin. The pictorial reintegration is limited to attenuating the most visible ginnings through veils (with particular attention to the portions of the green curtain and brown backgrounds) and to a readjustment of the altered and coarsely made touches. Finally, we intervened on the background ashlar in order to give a clearer interpretation: with a series of veils on the sky it was possible to attenuate the straight track and bring out the course of the cleft. The application of the final varnish has given homogeneity of reading of the various fields.

Frame
The restoration of the frame began with the removal of the incoherent deposits present on the gilding and on the outer sides. The lifted fragment was then glued and the gaps grouted with plaster and animal glue. The colour reintegration was carried out with watercolour colours and small portions of gold leaf on the most obvious gaps in the front, while paint colours were used on the outer edge. The wooden thicknesses present have been maintained and modernized.

 

Bibliography

- M. B. Failla, Sheet 6.4 in The Palace of Venaria and the Savoy. Art, Magnificence and History of a European Court, E. Castelnuovo (eds.), Turin, Allemandi, 2007, p. 110. 

- C. E. Spantigati, Sheet 1.5 in De Van Dyck in Bellotto. Splendeurs à la cour de Savoie, C. E. Spantigati, P. Astrua, A. M. Bava, S. Damiano, Torino, Allemandi, 2009, pp. 85-86.