21mc011-TE-2008_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, G. Dughet, Waterfall in the Roman countryside, inv. 493, cat. 483

Facilitated description:

 

Waterfall in the Roman countryside is a painting on canvas. 
The painting represents a natural landscape with a waterfall.
The painter Gaspard Dughet painted the painting in the mid-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 cleaned behind the painting to remove dust. 
They cleaned the front of the painting.
They eliminated the yellowed paint and paintings from the old restoration. 
They have replaced the grouting (a layer of plaster and glue that serves to cover the lack of painting) of the old restoration with new grouting.
They painted the failings of painting with watercolors and paint. 
They painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
Then they cleaned the frame of the dust. 
In the end they filled the holes in the frame caused by insects eating wood with colored stucco (plaster and glue layer). 

 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

Restoration

The restoration of the painting began with the removal of dust deposits from the back and the frame by means of soft brushes and light suction. In addition, a review of the tensioning of the canvas through the frame expansion systems was performed. On the pictorial film the chromatic alteration of the paint and the retouching compromised a correct reading of the work, therefore it was necessary to clean it. It was then proceeded in two successive phases, first removing the paint and then the pictorial integrations. Demineralized water and cococollagen were used to remove the oldest stucco residues. Subsequently, the plastering and the revision of some plastering of the previous restoration work was carried out. The pictorial integration was carried out with watercolor colors, while the first painting is with paint colors. Finally, the latest additions were made with paint colors and a final paint was sprayed.

 

Frame
The frame was first dusted and then cleaned with mixtures of ligroin and acetone to remove the purple touches. On the upper right corner of the longest ruler, a stucco has been removed, retouched in purple, replaced with a new one with gouache gilding. The butterfly holes of xylophagous insects were treated with repeated injections of permethrin, grouted and chromatically tuned with watercolor colors.

 

Bibliography

- S. Villano, Sheet 8.4 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, p. 193.