23i-TE-2017_Venaria Reale, Reggia, Maria Felicita di Savoia, daughter of Carlo Emanuele III (owned by Museo Civico d'Arte Antica di Torino - Palazzo Madama)

Facilitated description:

 

Maria Felicita of Savoy, daughter of Carlo Emanuele III is a painting made during the 1800s.
The painting is kept at the Reggia di Venaria.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the painting twice in 2009 and 2017. 
In 2009, restorers eliminated wood-fed insects from the painting.
In 2017 they did a longer restoration. The restorers dismantled the painting from the frame.
year removed the folds from the canvas and correctly repositioned the frame (wooden structure that supports the painting). 
They replaced the ruined nails. They mounted canvas bands along the edges of the painting to fix the painting on the frame. 
They checked the linings (reinforcement canvas behind the painting)
In the end, they cleaned the paintings from the deposits and applied a protective over the entire surface.

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

The painting, part of a series of 9 ovals with portraits of the House of Savoy, is owned by the Civic Museum of Ancient Art (Palazzo Madama) in Turin. It has been loaned to the Reggia di Venaria for the exhibition in the permanent visit path.
The paintings were the subject of a first anti-moth disinfestation intervention during 2009 (contract 46-TE-2009). In 2017 (contract 23-TE-2017) they were restored to halt the ongoing degradation process, presumably linked to the variation in the thermo-hygrometric conditions of the conservation environment.

Restoration

The restoration project on the 9 ovals involved the dismantling of the paintings from the frame to allow smoothing of the textile support and the wooden frame. In addition, the treatment of oxidation of nails with suitable products or replacement has been provided.
To facilitate the retensioning of the canvases, where necessary, perimeter bands have been applied.
The linings have therefore been revised, assessing their state of conservation and their possible removal and replacement.
In the intervention were programmed operations of realignment of the deformed frames and consolidation of the deadesi pictorial layers.
Finally, the deposits were cleaned and a protective covering was applied to the entire surface.