21mc038-TE-2008_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, D. Seiter, Cristo morto, inv. 412, cat. 319

Facilitated description: 

 

Dead Christ is a painting on canvas by Daniel Seiter made in the early 1700s. 
The painting depicts the dead Christ lying on the ground and near two angels. 
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 cleaned the frame (wooden structure that stands behind the painting and serves to support the painting). 
They have reattached the lining (canvas that is behind the painting and serves to strengthen it). 
They cleaned the painting with chemicals. They eliminated the yellowed paint and paintings from the previous restoration. 
They filled the paint gaps with a colored stucco base (plaster and glue). 
They painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
They cleaned the frame of the dust.
They glued the parts of wood that were coming off. 
They did the gilding with gold leaf and watercolors.
At the end they put a strip of fabric along the frame to make the painting rest on a soft base.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 
 

Restoration

The restoration began with the removal of inconsistent deposits from the verse of the painting and from the frame. At the detachments of the auxiliary support, adhesion was restored by means of resin and localised heat input with thermocautery.
On the pictorial film, after the solubility tests, a cleaning was carried out with gelled solvents to remove the superficial protective and altered touch-ups. This is how the original pictorial film emerged. The paper applied along the edge was removed exclusively in the portions that covered the original pictorial film. In the gaps of color and preparation, plaster and glue groutings were carried out, while the previous groutings, unsuitable, were revised. Subsequently, a first painting was carried out and chromatic additions were made through thin strokes of color. Finally, a final protective was sprayed and a tape of adhesive paper was applied along the edges of the painting for protective purposes.

 

Frame
The intervention on the frame provided for the elimination of incoherent deposits on the back and the stoppage of the lifts with aliphatic resin. Subsequently, the gilding was cleaned and the gaps based on plaster and glue were grouted. Gold plating with gouache technique (red bolus and gold leaf) was then carried out, retouching with shell gold and veiling the gilding with watercolor. Finally, a felt was applied along the line of the frame in contact with the pictorial film of the painting.

 

Bibliography

G. Spione, Sheet 6.9 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. 167-168.