25mc15-TA-2014_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, F. Botticini, Coronation of the Virgin, inv. 186

Facilitated description:

 

The Coronation of the Virgin is a painting on a wooden table. 
The painting depicts the Virgin Mary on the left and right God placing a crown on Mary. There are angels and saints all around.
The painter Francesco Botticini painted the painting between 1450-1500. 
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 how the painting was made. 
The restorers cleaned the painting of dust. 
They glued the parts of color that were peeling off. 
They filled the color gaps with a layer of putty (plaster and glue). 
They colored the plastering with watercolors making small dashes to make recognizable the parts painted during the restoration. 
They painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
Then they cleaned the frame and glued the gilding parts that were coming off. 
They filled the missing wooden parts with putty. 
They've gilded the putty. 
In the end they put on the back of the frame a product against insects that eat wood. 

 

 

 

 

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.

Restoration

The restoration work provided for the removal of atmospheric particulate deposits and the verification of the general solidity of the material. We then proceeded with the recovery of structural stability, compromised by localized adhesion defects, with localized consolidations. Subsequently a chemical cleaning of the surface and compensation of the gaps was made by plastering in imitation of surface and intonation with watercolor colors. The chromatic integration was carried out in a differentiated way: the larger gaps were compensated with hatch technique, while those of smaller dimensions were supplemented with pictorial camouflage. Subsequently, a protective varnish was applied and veils were made with varnish colors aimed at lowering the visual disturbance.
On the frame was made a cleaning that also removed the previous additions to purple. The raised preparation and gilding scales were then adhered. The gaps of preparation and gilding were filled with grouting and replenished with application of gouache gold leaf (for larger gaps) and watercolor colors (for smaller gaps). Finally, a permethrin solution was applied on the back to prevent future xylophagous attacks.