9mc06-TA-2019_Torino, Museo Civico d'Arte Antica - Palazzo Madama, F. Charrin, Young woman at the toilet, inv. 519

Facilitated description: 

 

Young woman at the toilet is a small painting on ivory (material that is obtained from the tusks of elephants).
Fanny Charrin painted the painting in 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 Young woman at the dressing table, 519 began with disassembly from the frame and cleaning with soft brushes and microaspirator. Subsequently the work was left under weight to favor the restoration of planarity and the stoppages of the de-adese color scales and the minute lifting points were carried out. The adhesive residues on the back of the miniature were then removed and the eburneo support fragment, present in the upper part of the work, was glued again. It was followed by the plastering of the fracture lines, abrasions and gaps of the pictorial layer with plaster-based stucco and animal glue. 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: the golden passpartout was coated with shock-absorbing material and a perimeter spacer of non-acid conservative cardboard was inserted to avoid excessive pressure of the metal door on the miniature. Finally, an additional layer of non-acid conservative paper coated with teflon ties was placed along the outer perimeter to facilitate the sliding of the closing metal door. 

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.