19-AL-2006_Venaria, Reggia, C. G. Plura, Wooden altar (common property of Rivoli)

Facilitated description:

 

The altar of the chapel of the Reggia di Venaria is a large painted wooden table.
The altar is a type of table found in churches.
Carlo Giuseppe Plura built the altar in 1721.
The altar is kept in the chapel of the Reggia di Venaria, dedicated to St. Hubert.
The ‘La Venaria Reale’ Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the altar in 2006 for the reopening of the Reggia di Venaria.
The restorers dismantled the altar to take it from the chapel to the restoration workshop.
Then they spread on the altar a product to elimianre the insects that eat the wood.
They filled the wooden gaps with poplar wood.
They glued and carved the missing flowers that decorate the front part of the altar.
They cleaned the altar and laid out a product to protect the wood.
They put the altar in an anoxic chamber, an oxygen-free chamber that serves to eliminate wood-eating insects.
They filled the color gaps with a stucco base (plaster layer and glue gaps with plaster) and watercolor colors.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

Restoration

The intervention began with the on-site dismantling of the canteen for transport to the laboratories. Subsequently, a disinfestation treatment was carried out with anti-moth impregnating liquid, consolidations were carried out and the missing parts were integrated with poplar wood. The carved parts of the floral racemes placed on the missing front volutes were glued and then carved with gouges and chisels, while the minimal sculptural shortcomings on the leaves of the front pilasters were not integrated, which were then cleaned and left exposed. The canteen has been completely overhauled: the joints have been cleaned and the parts already tessellated with inadequate woods have been integrated in the past. This was followed by grouting and application of a beeswax-based protective coating that was suitably pigmented. Finally, a disinfestation treatment was carried out in the anoxic chamber. 
On the pictorial surface, after the svelinautura of the artifact, a differentiated cleaning was performed to remove the repaintings and the oily film. The gaps of pictorial film were grouted with plaster and glue and the chromatic integration was performed with watercolor veils. Finally, the unreconstructed carving parts, which were darker, were harmonized, and a final protective varnish was sprayed. 

 

Bibliography

C. Bertolotto, Carlo Giuseppe Plura (attr.) (Lugano 1677? - Turin 1737). Altar of the Chapel of San Carlo Borromeo, in Restoration of the altars of the church of Sant'Uberto alla Venaria Reale, edited by Carla Enrica Spantigati, Firenze, Nardini, 2007, pp. 61-73.