21mc016-TE-2008_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, A. R. Mengs, San Pietro in cattedra, inv. 142, cat. 279a

Facilitated description:

 

St. Peter in the Chair is a painting on canvas. 
The painting depicts St. Peter sitting with a book and keys in his hand. 
The painter Anton Raphael Mengs painted the painting in the late 1700s.
The painting is kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. 
The restorers of the Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale restored the painting in 2008 for an exhibition. 
Scientists at the Venaria Center did scientific analysis to understand what materials the artist used and to see the old restorations. 
The restorers cleaned the paint (layer over the paint) from dirt. 
Then they put a substance to make the paint less shiny. 
They painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
They also restored the frame. 
They cleaned the frame of the dust.
They glued the detached wooden parts. 
They filled the wood gaps with colored stucco (plaster and glue layer). 
In the end they put the gold in the parts without gilding. 
 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

The restoration of the painting did not include any intervention on the support. In addition, multispectral diagnostic investigations were carried out for a more in-depth knowledge of the materials making up the work and of non-original substances. The pictorial surface has been the subject of a delicate intervention in view of the loan for the Brussels exhibition. In agreement with the Works Management, it was decided to overhaul the painting carried out in 1987, which was excessively shiny. For this purpose, surface dirt was cleaned and an aliphatic resin was sprayed with a protective and mattifying function. Finally, a final painting with protective film was carried out.

Frame

On the frame, thanks and a light cleaning, the atmospheric particulate deposits were removed. Subsequently, action was taken on the upheavals and plastering was carried out. In the areas of the most conspicuous abrasions were carried out the reintegration of gilding with shell gold, subsequently burnished. Finally, the existing protective layer has been polished and a further layer of protective film has been applied.

 

Bibliography 

- S. Villano, Sheet 9.18 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. 219.