9mc12-TA-2019_Torino, Museo Civico d'Arte Antica - Palazzo Madama, L. Poggioli, Portrait of a Man, inv. 613

Facilitated description:

 

Male portrait is a small painting on ivory (material that is obtained from the tusks of elephants).
Poggioli painted the painting in 1825. 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 glued the broken parts of the edges. They filled the color gaps with paints.
They put ties between the painting and the frame to protect the painting from rubbing.
Eventually they cleaned the frame and glued the edges and painted the missing gilding parts.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

Restoration of the miniature Portrait of a Man, 613 started with the disassembly from the frame, the cleaning with soft brushes and microaspirator and the removal of adhesive residues. Subsequently the work was left under weight to favor the restoration of the planarity. The bonding of the fracture margins was then carried out to restore structural stability and the pictorial retouching with resin-based paint colors. Finally, the internal constraint system has been re-adjusted: the glass was glued to the frame and along the sides was protected with teflon ties. In addition, a perimeter spacer of non-acid conservative cardboard has been placed. 

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.