Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Andrea Bianchi (Vespino), Last Supper, Painting on canvas

consistency

Restoration report (start of work: 04/2012), preliminary project (2009) and photographic documentation relating to the work carried out on the painting The Last Supper (copy from Leonardo da Vinci) by Andrea Bianchi (Vespino).

It also contains: copy of the report on the previous intervention carried out by Paola Zanolini (05/02/2001); Letter from Pinin Brambila Barcilon to F. Buzzi (28/10/2012); Multispectral analysis report (30/01/2011); report by A. Carini on the state of conservation of the painting at the end of the restoration (Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, 17/12/2012).

Works supervision: Mariolina Olivari.

 

 

Facilitated description
 

The work ‘Last Supper’ by Andrea Bianchi, known as Vespino, is a painting on canvas from around 1611-1616 in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
The painting is a copy of a detail of the work ‘Last Supper’ by Leonardo da Vinci.
Restorer Pinin Brambilla Barcilon restored the work in 2012 under the direction of Mariolina Olivari.
The painting has had several previous restorations.
The canvas had been repainted (application of a reinforcement canvas on the back of a painting) earlier and was still in good condition.
Layers of paint and repainting had made the painting dark.
The analysis with ultraviolet light (light beam that allows you to see details not visible in natural lighting conditions; mainly used to understand the degradation of different materials) showed that some paints were colored.
The restorer Pinin Brambilla thinned the paint layer through a cleaning operation (cleaning the surface of the artwork from dirt deposited over time).
He smoothed out the bulges that the painting had in some places.
He integrated painting (reconstruction of the material or color of missing parts) where there were loss of color and applied a new protective varnish.