D06mc04-TE-2016_Milano, Pinacoteca di Brera, G. C. Procaccini, Painted banner

Facilitated description: 

 

The banner is a painting on canvas decorated on two sides. 
The banner is a painting that is hung to show the two sides and is exhibited in particular religious celebrations.
Giulio Cesare Procaccini made the banner in 1615-1620. 
On one side prensenta Madonna and Child, Saints Ambrose, Charles Borromeo and angels and on the other Madonna and Child, St. John, St. Peter and angels. 
Giulio Cesare Procaccini made the banner in 1615-1620. 
The banner is kept at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. 
A student of the Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale restored the banner in 2016 for her thesis (final exam). 
Scientists at the Venaria Center did scientific analysis to study how the painting was made. 
The restorer has removed the lining (canvas that is behind the painting and serves to reinforce the painting) mounted during a restoration of the past. 
Reinforced the ruined parts of the painting canvas and arranged the torn canvas parts.
Then he worked on the front of the painting. 
He eliminated the paintings of the restoration done in 1980-1990.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

The restoration of Procaccini’s painted processional banner is part of Caterina Fontana’s thesis project. The work is decorated on both sides: On the front is represented the Madonna and Child, Saints Ambrose, Charles Borromeo and angels and on the way to the Madonna and Child, St. John, St. Peter and angels.
The main conservation problems of the work are the severe degradation of the pictorial material (gaps and surface abrasions) and of the textile support. In addition, the presence of non-original elements such as the ‘automatically expanding’ aluminium perimeter frame, made by Franco Rigamonti, and the transparent PVAc-based adhesive lining applied to the recto, dating from a restoration carried out between 1980-1990.
A detailed diagnostic campaign (infrared, false-colour infrared, trans-illumination, UV fluorescence) was carried out to support the study and design of the intervention.

Restoration

The main objective of the study was the definition of a protocol for the removal of the PVAc-based lining and adhesive and for the remediation of textile support lesions. Therefore, several tests were carried out on test specimens, carrying out tensile tests for the choice of adhesive to be used in the remediation of structural injuries and tests for the realization of a putty with elastic properties. Subsequently, the adhesives of previous interventions and the restoration substances that stiffened and embrittled the original material were removed, the margins of the lesions were glued and the textile deficiencies were remedied. As regards the aesthetic presentation, it was decided to remove the Roman striped pictorial retouching, carried out in the 1980s, in order to recover the original characteristics of the material both in terms of mechanical properties and legibility of the image. 

 

Bibliography

C. Fontana, The painted banner of Giulio Cesare Procaccini: intervention methodologies and operational choices for structural compensation of textile support, thesis in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Prof. Benedetta Ventura, Monica Guglielmi, University of Turin, academic year 2016-2017.