23-TE-2012_Venaria Reale, Reggia, G. Duprà (attr.), Portrait of Carlo Emanuele III, inv. R 2502 (ownership of Racconigi Castle)

Facilitated description:

 

The portrait of Carlo Emanuele II is a painting on canvas. 
Giuseppe Duprà painted the painting in the second half of the 1700s. 
The painting is kept at the Reggia di Venaria, before it was at the Castello di Racconigi. 
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting in 2012.
The scientists of the Venaria Center did scientific analysis to study the colors of the painting and to see the drawing under the painting. 
The restorers have dismantled the painting from the frame (wooden structure that stands behind the painting and serves to support the painting). 
They cleaned the painting.
They eliminated the folds of the canvas and reinforced the canvas.
The restorers repositioned the canvas on the frame. 
Then they worked on the front of the painting. 
They painted the lack of color. 
They painted the painting to protect us from the sun's rays and dust. 
In the end, they cleaned the frame.
They reinforced the wooden parts that were detaching. 
They painted the frame to protect us from the sun's rays and dust. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

The painting by Duprà, owned by the Castle of Racconigi (Residenze Royali Sabaude - Regional Directorate of Piedmont National Museums), was granted to the Reggia di Venaria for exhibition in the permanent visit route.

Restoration

The restoration was preceded by a diagnostic campaign aimed at deepening the state of conservation, identifying the substances superimposed on the surface and identifying the pigments used. Among the main results emerged those of the infrared analysis, which highlighted some regrets in the setting of the composition (draping of the Savoy pillar-node of the curtain rope).
The intervention involved the disassembly of the work from the frame and the cleaning of the back to remove protein residues. Subsequently, the support was smoothed out (supply of moisture and vacuum treatment) and the preparatory and pictorial layers were consolidated with the application of adhesive and treatment in the diner. Thanks to these preliminary operations it was possible to compensate the canvas with inserts and small grouting. Along the edges of the support, perimeter bands have been applied to allow retensioning on the new wooden expansion frame. Coherent and inconsistent deposits, altered protective and retouching from previous restorations have been removed on the pictorial surface. Subsequently, the surface imitation gaps were grouted and the hatched chromatic reintegrations with watercolor colors were performed. Finally, after the application of a first layer of protective, the color contrasts were harmonized with retouching of paint colors and the surface was protected with UV filter paint. 
The restoration of the frame provided for the cleaning of the surface, the thinning of the shellac coating, the consolidation of the lifts and the plastering of the gaps. Finally, a protective layer has been added with a UV filter.