33mc06-CR-2013_Moncalieri, Castello, P. Canonica, Maria Clotilde of Savoy in prayer, inv. 251

Facilitated description: 

 

Maria Clotilde of Savoy in prayer is a plaster sculpture. 
Pietro Canonica made the sculpture in 1915. 
The sculpture is preserved at the Castle of Moncalieri.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the sculpture in 2013. 
The restoration was attended by the students of the restoration school of Venaria. 
The restorers cleaned the sculpture paying attention to all differences in material on the surface. 
They repositioned a detached piece of the dress at the bottom. 
In the end they painted with watercolors to make the surface all the same. 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

The intervention on the plaster statue Maria Clotilde in prayer of the Castle of Moncalieri has returned as part of an educational internship for the students of the second year of the degree course in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (path of specilization in stone materials and derivatives and decorated surfaces of architecture, PFP1). The work was a case study useful to deepen some aspects: executive technique with particular attention to the finishing of the sketches, degradation phenomena, intervention practices. The comparison with preparatory sketches of other portraits has allowed a comparative study of the artifact with the aim of identifying similarities in the executive technique. Moreover, thanks to the comparison with some preparatory sketches of other portraits of the Canonica it was possible to make a comparative study in relation to the executive technique.

Restoration

The intervention began with the mechanical removal of inconsistent deposits using soft bristle brushes. For the removal of consistent deposits, after performing cleaning tests, a differentiated intervention was performed. In fact, the diversity of the material and the finish revealed dissimilar degradations for which it was necessary to act in a specific way. Therefore, the vertical surfaces and those affected by minor degrading have been dry cleaned with rubbers so as not to compromise the coating of the sketch. Instead, the unpainted parts that had incorporated atmospheric particulate matter into the chalky layer resulting in graying were swabbed or chromatically attenuated. Green brushstrokes have been deleted as they are not relevant. In the lower part of the drapery to the left of the work, a fragment has been repositioned by plastering and chromatically integrated. The aesthetic presentation of the work provided for a chromatic balance using watercolor veils, dry pastels and pencils to give homogeneity to the surface.