21mc033-TA-2008_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, G. Caccia said Moncalvo, Abraham and the three angels, inv. 1088

Facilitated description:

 

Abraham and the Three Angels is a painting on a metal plate. 
The painter Guglielmo Caccia called Moncalvo made the painting at the beginning of 1500. 
The painting depicts Abraham kneeling looking at some angels flying in the sky. 
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. 
The restorers tried to clean the oxidized metal parts (ruined due to contact with air).
They cleaned the surface painted from dust. 
They have eliminated the yellowed paint and the paintings of the old restoration in the upper left part. 
They spread on the wooden frame a product against insects that feed on wood. 
They reinforced the frame with small pieces of wood. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

Restoration

The intervention tried to limit as much as possible the process of degradation and oxidation of the support in compliance with the historical testimonies present on the work, such as the dedication on the reverse. On the pictorial surface, a surface cleaning was carried out, first mechanically with a brush and then with a buffer solution at pH 6. Finally, it was decided not to remove the paint because it is in good condition and not to affect the recent retouching still suitable. Only in the upper left part, where the retouching was more altered, intervened by removing part of the paint and reintegrating with paint colors.

 

Frame
The verse was subjected to injections and drafts of permethrin. In addition, the system of constraint of the frame to the support has been revised by inserting small wooden strips covered in etafoam to contain the slab.

 

Bibliography

C. Goria, Sheet 3.4 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. 123.