46-AL-2008_Venaria, Reggia, G. M. Bonzanigo, Trofeo militare, inv. 1161-L (ownership of the Civic Museum of Ancient Art of Turin - Palazzo Madama)

Facilitated description:

 

The military trophy is a wooden sculpture composed of a piece of furniture at the bottom and at the top of a display case (a glass container) containing many small wooden sculptures. The trophy is dedicated to war and peace.
Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo made the sculpture in 1802-1814.
The trophy is kept at the Reggia di Venaria.
The Centre for Conservation and Restoration "La Venaria Reale" (CCR) restored the trophy in 2008.
The restorers repositioned and glued the pieces of detached sculptures.
They putty (stretched a layer of plaster and glue) the cracks of the wood.
They cleaned the surface of the dirt with a laser beam tool.
In the end, they covered the holes with a layer of wax and spread a protective substance against the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The work, owned by the Fondazione Torino Musei, was located in the deposits of Palazzo Madama and was loaned to the Reggia di Venaria to be exhibited during the visit. 

Restoration

The intervention on the Military Trophy of Bonzanigo, dedicated to "Virtuti belli et Sapientiae Pacis", aimed to relocate all the detached fragments with differentiated stickers. The micro-sculpture, depicting two dignitaries with the crown to the left of Vittorio Emanuele in the centre, has been relocated to its original position, supported by a bamboo stick to avoid gluing in several places and a future difficult removal. The left angular structure containing the coloured glass has been repositioned, as it is in an incorrect position. In addition, plastering was carried out to fill a slit in the shield depicting jellyfish. 
Cleaning operations on the wooden surface were carried out by laser, while in areas with polychrome deposits were mechanically removed. Finally, the screw holes, flicker holes and a slit on the base were grouted and a final protective film was laid.  

 

Bibliography

C. Araldi di Balme, P. Croveri, P. Luciani, T. Poli, M. Ravera, The restoration of the ‘Military Trophy’ by G.M. Bonzanigo (1797-1802): laser cleaning choices of textile materials and microsculpture, in Proceedings VII of the IGIIC National Conference of the Italian Group of the International Institute for Conservation “State of the art 7”, 8-10 October 2009, Naples, 2009, pp. 245-252.