6-TE-2006_Venaria Reale, Reggia di Venaria, J. Miel, Hunting deer, inv. D 743 300 (ownership of the Museo Civico d'Arte Antica di Torino - Palazzo Madama)

Facilitated description: 

 

The Deer Hunt is a painting on canvas.
The painting depicts a hunting scene.
The painter Jan Miel painted the painting in 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 2006-2007 for the reopening of the Reggia di Venaria.
The restorers cleaned the painting and eliminated the repaintings made in previous restorations.
During the intervention, the restorers noticed cuts on the painting. The cuts were made with the sword by the French general Catinat in 1693 during a battle.
The restorers removed the grouting (plaster and glue layer) that covered the sword cuts.
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 Deer 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 for the identification of previous restoration interventions.

 

Restoration

The intervention began with chemical cleaning to eliminate paint and repainting, highlighted by ultraviolet analysis. The brown stuccoes have also been softened and removed, made in a previous restoration to corpse the signs of sabers dating back to the siege of the Palace by French troops in 1693. The surface of the painting was then painted and new plastering was carried out. The watercolour pictorial integration was carried out in a differentiated manner: with hatching on the most important gaps, with light veils on the abrasions and with camouflage retouching on the old brown plastering. Finally, a protective varnish was applied.

 

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.