21mc032-TE-2008_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, J. Miel, San Filippo Neri venerates the image of the Madonna and Child, inv. 278, cat. 703

Facilitated description:

 

St. Philip venerates the image of the Madonna and Child is a painting made by Jan Miel in 1659. 
The painting represents St. Philip among the angels praying in front of a painting of Our Lady.
The painting is kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. 
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting in 2008. 
Scientists at the Venaria Centre made scientific analyses to understand what materials the artist used and to see the restorations of the past. 
The restorers cleaned the painting from dust, elimianto the yellowed paint and the paintings of the previous restoration. 
They filled the color gaps with paints. 
Then they restored the frame. 
They cleaned the frame of dust and paintings from the previous restoration. 
They glued the parts of wood that were coming off. 
They did the gilding with gold leaf where it was missing. 
In the end they painted the frame and the painting to protect them from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

Before starting the restoration work, a number of multispectral and diagnostic investigations were carried out on the painting to learn about the execution technique, the nature of the materials used and the non-original superseded substances. Subsequently, the cleaning was carried out with a mixture of ethanol and ligroin and aimed at lightening the paint and eliminating the altered touch-ups. We then proceeded with the painting of the paint film with a brush and the pictorial integration intervention, carried out with paint colors both in the areas of abraded color and on the previous altered interventions. Finally, a final protective was laid out.
The deposits of atmospheric dust were removed from the textile support of the work, with the help of soft brushes and micro-aspirators.

 

Frame
Solvent cleaning was performed to thin the protective layer and the altered repaintings. We then proceeded to putty the missing parts with a plaster based on plaster and rabbit glue. A bolus of a similar colour to the original was applied to the grouting, while the gold leaf was applied using a gouache technique and subsequently burnished. The new gold foil was coated in watercolour colours. The cataloguing label located at the bottom of the right vertical ruler has been removed from its original location because it is applied directly to the gold leaf. The operation was carried out by adhering Japanese paper with Klucel G to 6% in the water. In this way, the slow release of moisture was exploited, resulting in the swelling of the glue of animal origin that bound the label to the gold foil. Once removed, it was dried and then relocated. Finally, a final protective was laid on the front, while the metal parts of the back were protected with anti-corrosion.

 

Bibliography

G. Spione, Sheet 6.7 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. 166-167.