21mc009-TA-2008_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, J. Van Hulsdonck, Canestra di frutta, inv. 507, cat. 286

Facilitated description: 

 

The Fruit Basket is a painting on a wooden table. 
The painting represents a basket of fruits above a table.
The painter Jabob Van Hulsdonck painted the painting in the early 1600s. 
The painting is kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting in 2008. 
The restorers glued the parts of the painting that were peeling off. 
They cleaned the painting of dust and yellowed paint.
They filled the color gaps with putty (plaster and glue layer).
They colored the putty with watercolors.
Eventually they painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

Restoration

On the pictorial surface of the painting a consolidation intervention was carried out due to the widespread presence of lifts. The adhesive was applied first with a brush, interposing a sheet of Japanese paper, then a mechanical action was exerted with a metal spatula to facilitate re-adhesion to the support. In these operations, the surface was protected by interposing wadding and non-woven fabric.
The protective film was then cleaned and rebalanced with a free solvent mixture, paying particular attention to areas not treated during previous restorations. For the most resistant resin accumulations, the cleaning has been mechanically finished with scalpels. Subsequently, efforts were made to improve surface performance by means of heat and pressure. We proceeded with the plastering of the falls of the preparation and the pictorial film with plaster and glue, then leveled and chromatically integrated with watercolor colors. Afterwards, a brush painting and finishing with paint colors of the reintegrations and abraded areas were carried out. Finally, a protective material was sprayed.

 

Frame
The work on the frame was of a maintenance nature. It started with a slight surface cleaning with ligroin to remove consistent atmospheric particulate deposits. Subsequently, small corrections were made to the most conspicuous abrasions and the scratch at the lower portion using shell gold then burnished. Finally, the numerous wax flicker holes were sealed and the related gaps were chromatically matched with paint colors. 

 

Bibliography

S. Piretta, Sheet 7.2 in De Van Dyck in Bellotto. Splendeurs à la cour de Savoie, C. E. Spantigati, P. Astrua, A. M. Bava, S. Damiano, Turin, Allemandi, 2009, p. 177.