D02mc02-TE-2017_Milano, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, A. R. Mengs, Portrait of Clement XIII, inv. 796

Facilitated description: 

 

The portrait of Clement XIII is painted. 
The painting depicts Pope Clement XIII in red robes, seated on a throne. 
Anton Raphael Mengs painted the painting in 1759. 
The painting is kept at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan. 
The Conservation and Restoration Center restored the painting in 2017. 
The restoration students participated in the restoration. 
The restorers cleaned the painting of dust.
They cleaned the frame (wooden structure that stands behind the painting and serves to support the painting).
They reinforced the frame. 
They have eliminated the folds of the canvas.
Then they worked on the front of the painting. 
They stopped the parts of color that were peeling off. 
They eliminated the yellowed paint and paintings from the old restoration. 
They filled the missing color parts with a layer of putty (plaster and glue). 
They colored the putty.
After the restorers painted the painting to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
In the end, they cleaned the frame. 
They filled the wooden gaps with stucco. 
They've gilded the putty. 
They painted the frame to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

The intervention was carried out as part of an ordinary teaching project with students of the degree course in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (a.y. 2016-2017, 2017-2018).

Restoration

The intervention started with the removal of inconsistent and consistent deposits from the support structure and support. Small repairs were then carried out on the frame at the corners and an area of the canvas was smoothed out with moisture from the back. At the level of the pictorial film the deadesi layers were stopped and a cleaning was carried out with brushes and micro-aspirator and with silicone material to remove deposits from the protective film. This layer was then thinned, as not original. The oxidized varnish with gelled solvent and the repaintings were then removed. Subsequently, we intervened with the grouting of the surface imitation gaps and the integration with watercolor hatch. Finally, a layer of varnish was applied, retouching was carried out and a resin against aging and degradation and a protective varnish was applied. 
Incoherent and consistent deposits were eliminated on the frame and the consolidation of the decoesi layers was carried out. The gaps that had oxidized purpurine were cleaned. Finally, the plastering was carried out, then supplemented with new gilding in burnished gouache with agate stone, and an acrylic ochre paint was applied.