09-TA-2015_Venaria, Royal Palace, Red Sea Passage, inv. 299 (ownership of the Royal Museums of Turin)

Facilitated description:

 

The Red Sea Passage is a painting on copper.
It represents Moses passing the Jewish people across the Red Sea to escape the Egyptians.
The painting was made in 1640-1660.
The painting is kept at the Reggi di Venaria.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the sculpture in 2015.
The restorers dismantled the painting from the frame.
They cleaned the painting with chemicals from the non-original protective substance.
Scientists at the Venaria Center did analyses to identify the ruined parts of the painting.
Eventually they filled the color gaps with paints and spread a substance to protect the painting from the sun's rays and dust.

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The painting was the subject of conservation and restoration work on the occasion of the temporary exhibition during the visit to the Reggia di Venaria, after being exhibited at the exhibition The King's Paintings. The collections of Prince Eugene, leader and intellectual. Collectionism between Vienna, Paris and Turin in the early eighteenth century (Venaria Reale, Reggia, 5 April - 9 September 2012).

Restoration

The intervention began with the dismantling of the painting from the frame and the wooden panel on which the copper plate rested. Subsequently, thanks to a chemical cleaning, the layer of non-original protective film was removed, without affecting the thin underlying patina of older paint. The UV and microscope analyses have highlighted the presence of anthropogenic damage, presumably due to a previous restoration, while the infrared and the false color have brought out the degradation of the disposable used for the sky. The superficial deposits were then removed from the verse. The gaps were supplemented with paint colors and the final protection was spread with paint brush.

 

Bibliography

M. Ferrero, file 9.10, in The collections of Prince Eugene leader and collector. Collectionism between Vienna, Paris and Turin in the early eighteenth century (catalogue), edited by C. E. Spantigati, Cinisello Balsamo (MI), 2012, p. 248.