9mc04-TA-2019_Turin, Museo Civico d'Arte Antica - Palazzo Madama, Portrait of a man with a two-pointed hat, inv. 536

Facilitated description:

 

Portrait of a man with a two-pointed hat is a small painting on ivory (material obtained from elephant tusks).
The painting was made in about 1810.
The painting is kept at the Civic Museum of Ancient Art in Turin (Palazzo Madama).
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting in 2019.
The restorers dismantled the painting from the frame. They put the painting under weights to flatten it.
They cleaned the painting of dust. They filled the fractures with stucco (plaster and glue layer) and color deficiencies with paint.
They put a cardboard between the painting and the frame closure to protect the painting.
In the end they cleaned the frame and glued the detached pieces.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

Restoration of the miniature Portrait of a man with a two-pointed hat, 536 started with disassembly from the frame and cleaning with soft brushes, microaspirator and scalpel (for larger deposits). Subsequently the work was left under weight to favor the restoration of the planarity. The adhesive residues present near the fracture object of a past conservative intervention were then removed and the patches, which concealed the fractures, were replaced with Japanese paper. The pictorial retouching that transhipped respect to the grouting was then removed and the grouting of the areas affected by fractures or gaps was carried out. The pictorial retouching was performed with resin-based paint colors, sometimes added with other types of resins to achieve a more defined gloss effect. Finally, the constraint system has been re-adjusted: a non-acidic protective cardboard spacer has been inserted between the back of the front element and the back closure panel to avoid excessive pressure on the thumbnail. 

Frame
Chemical cleaning of the metal frame and glass to remove inconsistent dusty deposits and greasy dirt and remove strips of adhesive tape. Subsequently, the bonding of the fractured parts and the replacement of any damaged elements (screws, bolts) were carried out.