10-TE-2006_Venaria, Reggia, S. Conca, Madonna and Child with St. Charles Borromeo (property Piedmont region)

Facilitated description:

 

The Madonna and Child with St. Charles Borromeo is a painting on canvas made by Sebastiano Conca in 1724.
The painting represents the Madonna with baby Jesus in her arms and St. Charles kneeling.
The painting is kept at the Reggia di Venaria, in the chapel of St. Hubert.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting in 2006 for the reopening of the Reggia di Venaria.
The restorers cleaned the frame (the wooden structure that supports the painting) and applied a product against wood-eating insects.
They repositioned the painting on the frame making sure to eliminate all the folds.
They cleaned the surface of the painting and eliminated the old restoration work.
Scientists at the Center did scientific analysis and discovered the way the painting was made and the colors used.
They filled the color gaps with a stucco base (plaster and glue layer) and watercolor colors.
Eventually they painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The canvas Madonna and Child with St. Charles Borromeo by Sebastiano Conca was restored on the occasion of the reopening of the Reggia di Venaria and the exhibition in its original location in the chapel of Sant'Uberto (right side chapel) together with the other three works that adorned the altars of this environment. The altarpiece, affected by several movements during its conservative history, has come to the Royal Palace from the Aula Magna of the Palazzo dell'Università di Torino, where it was preserved from 1964 to 2006.

 

Restoration

The restoration work began with the cleaning of the frame and anti-moth treatment. The lower rule was then replaced and the retensioning operations of the canvas were carried out. 
A cleaning was done on the pictorial film to eliminate atmospheric particulate deposits and thin the altered paint. After the cleaning, retouching and grouting related to previous restoration work emerged. Scientific analyses, on the other hand, have allowed us to deepen the nature of the pigments used and the executive technique. Then the no longer suitable groutings were removed, replaced by new groutings, then chromatically integrated with watercolor colors and hatching technique. Finally, a final protective varnish was applied.

Bibliography

- Restoration of the altars of the church of Sant'Uberto alla Venaria Reale, edited by C. E. Spantigati, Florence, Nardini, 2007;
- S. De Blasi, Scheda, in 8 restorations from "La Venaria Reale". The Conservation and Restoration Centre: a new reality for cultural heritage, catalogue of the exhibition (Turin, Palazzo Bricherasio, 26 January - 4 February 2007), pp. 26-31.
- F. Grana, Sheets 18.4-18.5, 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. 291-292.