D02mc03-TE-2017_Milano, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, G. Mentessi, Ora triste, inv. 1079

Facilitated description: 

 

The sad hour is painted on canvas. 
The painting is a funeral. 
Giuseppe Mentessi painted the painting in 1890. 
The painting is kept at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan. 
The Conservation and Restoration Center restored the painting in 2017. 
A restoration student has restored the stipo for her thesis (final exam).
The restorer stopped the parts of color that were peeling off with the thermocautery (tool with hot tip). 
Then he cleaned the painting of dust and yellowed paint. 
The restorer has dismantled the painting from the frame (wooden structure that is behind the painting and serves to support the painting) and from the lining (reinforcement canvas that is behind the painting). 
He cleaned behind the painting and eliminated the folds of the canvas. 
The restorer repositioned the painting on a new frame in the correct position. 
Filled the color gaps with putty (plaster and glue layer). 
He painted the grouts. 
In the end he cleaned the frame and arranged the scratched wooden parts. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

 

The intervention was carried out as part of a thesis project by Elena Filippi entitled Now sad by Giuseppe Mentessi: conservation problems and restoration of a painting on canvas of the late nineteenth century. 

Restoration

The intervention began with the consolidation of the lifts with thermocautery and glue and the cleaning with gelled solution from the deposits and the brown watercolor layer. Subsequently, the layer of altered paint was thinned and the underlying glue residues were removed. After the velinatura of the front, we proceeded to the disassembly of the painting from the frame, the removal of the three canvases to be replaced and the cleaning of the verso. In this way it was possible to smooth the edges, compensate the gaps with canvas inserts, apply perimeter strips functional to the retensioning of the painting and recover the deformations of the textile support (treatment in the diner). The frame was then repaired, removing the nails and filling the gaps and cracks, and the canvas was re-tensioned with metal staples. Finally, at the level of the pictorial film the gaps were grouted, chromatically intoned with camouflage with pure pigments, and a final protective varnish was sprayed.
A chemical and mechanical cleaning was performed on the frame to remove consistent and inconsistent deposits. The abrasions and the old altered retouches, made in purple, have been attenuated with a slight veiling in watercolor and micaceous gold. Finally, the metal plate was cleaned.

 

Bibliography

- E. Filippi, Now sad by Giuseppe Mentessi: conservation problems and restoration of a painting on canvas of the late nineteenth century (thesis), Prof. Gianna Ferraris di Celle, Prof. Eliano Diana, degree course in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, academic year 2016-2017.