25mc14-TA-2014_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, A. da Fossano (Bergognone), Madonna with child and a Carthusian, inv. 175

Facilitated description:

 

Madonna with Child and a Carthusian is a painting on wooden table. 
The painting represents the Madonna in the center, on the right Jesus child in the gesture of blessing and on the left a friar. 
The painter Ambrogio da Fossano, known as Bergognone, painted the painting between 1453 and 1523.
The painting is kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. 
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting in 2014. 
Scientists at the Venaria Center did scientific analysis to study the colors used by the painter. 
Thanks to the analysis, the scientists were able to see under the painting and found that the friar's nose and chin in the first version of the painting were larger.
The restorers cleaned behind the painting to remove dust. 
They cleaned the painting to get rid of the yellowed paint. 
They filled the color gaps with a layer of putty (plaster and glue). 
They colored the putty with watercolors and paints. 
They painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
The restorers cleaned the frame and reinforced the gilding parts that were coming off. 
They filled the parts without gilding with putty. 
In the end they gilded the stucco.
 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

The panel was the subject of conservation and restoration work on the occasion of the setting up of the Galleria Sabauda at the new headquarters in the Manica Nuova of the Palazzo Reale in Turin (2014). The restoration was accompanied by a multispectral diagnostic campaign and photographic documentation to investigate some of the technical characteristics of the work. From the infrared reflectography have emerged small second thoughts (nose and chin of the Carthusian resized in the final version), while thanks to the infrared investigation in false color was identified the palette used by the artist. 

Restoration

The integration began with the removal of dust deposits with a micro aspirator both from the frame and from the back of the board. The solvent paint was then removed and the surface imitation grouting was performed, then integrated with hatching with watercolor colors and varnish veils. Particularly delicate was the phase of chromatic integration of the extensive abrasions in the landscape area and the complexion of the figures, reintegrated punctually with paint colours. Finally, a final painting was carried out. 
Dust deposits were removed on the frame with soft bristle brushes and microaspirator and the preparation and gilding flakes raised with adhesive injections were consolidated. The dirt deposits overlaid with a chemical cleaning were then removed and the preparation and gilding gaps were integrated with Bologna plaster and rabbit glue, then reintegrated with watercolor colors.