36-AL-2012_Venaria, Palace, Tabernacle chapel S. Uberto

Facilitated description:

 

The tabernacle is a small gilded wooden container found in Christian churches. 
The tabernacle serves to preserve the hosts (piece of bread symbol of the divinity).
The tabernacle was built in the early 1700s.
The tabernacle is kept at the Reggia di Venaria, in the chapel of Sant'Uberto.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the tabernacle in 2012.
The restorers have spread on the tabernacle a product against insects that eat wood.
They got rid of the dirt.
They glued the raised golden parts and filled the missing wooden parts with small pieces of wood and plaster.
Eventually they painted the tabernacle to protect it from the sun's rays and light.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The taberbacolo of the chapel of Sant'Uberto della Reggia di Venaria (right chapel dedicated to San Carlo Borreomeo) has been restored on the occasion of its relocation to the Reggia di Venaria. The work, attributed to Carlo Giuseppe Plura's atelier, was located in the warehouses of the Superintendence for Historical, Artistic and Ethno-Anthropological Heritage of Piedmont at Palazzo Carignano in Turin. 

Restoration

The tabernacle has been subjected to disinfestation treatment with anti-moth products. Subsequently, cleaning was carried out from atmospheric deposits by suction and with chemicals. The largest deposits were also treated mechanically. The lifts of the golden surface were consolidated with injections of acrylic resin and the gaps were integrated with wooden dowels, plastered. Imprimiture gaps have been stuccoed. For the aesthetic presentation it was decided to intervene camouflagely by applying a layer of bolus and making gouache gilding. The gold plate was then burnished. The entire surface has been protected with varnish with a UV filter. Finally, the altar portion was made into which to insert the tabernacle with poplar wood, chromatically adjusted and treated with protective film.

 

Bibliography

C. Bertolotto, Carlo Giuseppe Plura (attr.) (Lugano 1677? - Turin 1737). Altar of the Chapel of San Carlo Borromeo. in Restauri for the altars of the church of Sant'Uberto alla Venaria Reale, edited by Carla Enrica Spantigati, Florence, 2007, op 61-73.