39-MT-2007_Turin, Civic Museum of Ancient Art - Palazzo Madama, A. Bruno, Door tapestry with coat of arms of Vittorio Amedeo III, inv. 901/A

Facilitated description:

 

The door with the coat of arms of Vittorio Amedeo III is a tapestry, a large canvas work that hangs to decorate the walls.
The tapestry represents two lions and the symbol of Vittorio Amedeo III.
Angelo Bruno made the tapestry in about 1794.
The tapestry is kept at the Civic Museum of Ancient Art in Turin (Palazzo Madama).
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the tapestry in 2007 for an exhibition.
The restorers dismantled the lining (reinforcement canvas at the back of the tapestry).
They cleaned the tapestry of dust with a small vacuum cleaner.
They eliminated the seams and canvas patches of the old restorations because they were no longer suitable.
They preserved the diamond-shaped seam that fixed the old lining as evidence of the previous restoration.
The restorers fixed the unstitched threads on pieces of reinforcing canvas.
In the end, they mounted a new linen lining behind the tapestry and put up an adhesive band to hang it.

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The restoration of the door tapestry with the coat of arms of Vittorio Amedeo III, inv. 901/A was performed on the occasion of the exhibition The palace of Venaria Reale. The Savoys. Art, magnificence and history of a European court (Reggia di Venaria, 12 October 2007 - 30 March 2008).

Restoration

The restoration began with the disassembly of the lining and with a cleaning by micro-suction of the front and the back. Subsequently, all previous restorations were dismantled and no longer considered suitable (rammendi, patches located in the legs and faces of the lions and in the coat of arms). In agreement with the works management, it was decided to keep the trace of the lozenges seam of the previous lining system for historical documentation. A repositioning of the missing warps was then carried out and the free warps were stopped on canvas supports with neutral-colored cotton thread. Finally, a new linen liner was applied along the four sides with a Velcro band along the upper side for display. 

 

Bibliography

- Bovenzi G. L., Sheet 16.7, in The palace of Venaria Reale. The Savoys. Art, magnificence and history of a European court, E. Castelnovo (eds.), Turin, Allemandi, 2007, pp. 274-275.
- A. Cosmi, Sheet 77, The Royal Manufacture of tapestries of the Savoy (1731-1833). Complete catalogue, series by Alti Studi sull'età e la cultura del Barocco - VII ed., Fondazione 1563, Alicubi, Turin, 2022, p. 286.