5-TE-2006_Venaria Reale, Reggia di Venaria, J. Miel, Hunting wild boar, inv. D 741 298 (Owned by Museo Civico d'Arte Antica di Torino - Palazzo Madama)

Facilitated description: 

 

The Wild Boar Hunt is a painting on canvas.
The painting depicts a hunting scene.
The painter Jan Miel painted the painting in 1650-1661.
The painting is kept in Diana's room of the Reggia di Venaria.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting in 2007 for the reopening of the Reggia di Venaria.
The restorers have dismantled the painting from the frame (wooden structure that stands behind the painting and serves to support the painting).
They have eliminated the canvas patches put during an old restoration to cover holes.
They dusted the frame and reassembled the painting on the frame.
Scientists at the Venaria Center have done scientific analysis and found that under the painting there are cuts caused by sword strokes.
The cuts were made with the sword by the French general Catinat in 1693 during a battle.
Afterwards they cleaned the front part of the painting and eliminated the parts painted during the old restorations.
They filled the color gaps with a stucco base (plaster and glue layer) and watercolor colors.
In the end they painted the work to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The canvas Wild boar hunting by Jan Miel was restored on the occasion of the reopening of the Reggia di Venaria and the exhibition in its original location in the Hall of Diana. The painting, part of a series of 10 works with a hunting theme, has been affected by several movements during its conservative history and has come to the Royal Palace from the Civic Museum of Ancient Art in Turin - Palazzo Madama. The restoration was preceded by multispectral analysis to deepen the study of the pictorial surface and the identification of previous restoration interventions. 

 

Restoration

The painting was previously velinated along the edges, dismantled from the frame and dusted. The elements added to the verse during previous restorations were then removed and a cleaning was done to remove the residual glue. Gauze strips were then applied to consolidate the weaker areas. On the frame a cleaning and anti-moth treatment has been done, the nails have been eliminated and the canvas has been re-tensioned.
In the next step, the surface of the painting was cleaned to remove the yellowed paint. This operation and the results of the ultraviolet analysis have revealed the numerous repaintings and the signs of the sabers inflicted by the troops of General Catinat in 1693 during the French occupation of Turin. The retouching was then removed and the old grouting was replaced. Finally, a differentiated chromatic retouching was carried out to fill the numerous gaps: the groutings have been reintegrated with stripes, while paint colours have been used for small retouches.

Bibliography

- D. Zanardo, Tabs 8.1-8.10 in The Royal Palace of Venaria Reale and the Savoy. Art, magnificence and history of a European court, edited by E. Castelnuovo, catalogue of the exhibition (Reggia di Venaria, 12 October 2007 - 30 March 2008), pp. 143-155;
Of the hunts I give thee the high empire: restorations for Diana's room at the Venaria Reale, in ‘Archivio 2’, edited by C. E. Spantigati, Nardini Editore, Florence, 2008.