44-TA-2018_Biella, Palazzo La Marmora, B. De Conti, Portelle di tripttico - San Cristoforo con Sebastiano e Goffredo Ferrero (recto); Virgin announced with Besso and Giovanni Andrea Ferrero (verse)

Facilitated description:

 

The doors of the triptych are two paintings on board.
The two paintings are decorated in front and behind and are part of a triptych (composed of three paintings on wood).
The two paintings represent members of the Ferrero family.
The painter Bernardino de Conti made the paintings in 1517-1520.
The paintings are kept at Palazzo La Marmora in Biella.
The Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale restored the paintings in 2016-2016 during a thesis project (final exam) and in 2018 for an exhibition.  
In the first phase, the student worked on the painting on the left, with St. Sebastian, Augustine and members of the Ferrero family. The restorer protected the painting with Japanese paper (thin paper that serves to stop the parts of color that were peeling off).
He cleaned the painting of dust, yellowed paint and old restoration paintings.
It replaced the old ruined grouts (plaster and glue layer that serves to fill the color gaps).
He painted the grouts.
He eventually restored the frame.
In 2018 the restorers of the Center continued the restoration on the right painting.
Scientists at the Venaria Center did scientific analysis to study the layer under the paint.
Scientists have seen the preparatory drawing hidden under the paintings.
They saw small changes in the face setting of some characters and discovered two decorative phases.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The intervention began in 2016 on the occasion of a master’s thesis by Chiara Santhià and continued in 2018-2019 by the restorers of the Conservation and Restoration Centre in anticipation of the exhibition of the doors to the exhibition. The Renaissance in Biella. Sebastiano Ferrero and his children at the Museum of the Biella Territory. 

Restoration

The first phase of the intervention carried out as part of the thesis project focused on the study of the work, the reconstruction of the historical-artistic events and the restoration of the left door, depicting San Sebastiano with Agostino, Giovanni Stefano and Bonifacio Ferrero, affected by a complex stratigraphy. The operations carried out on this board began with the surface velinatura in view of transport to the laboratories of the Centre of Venaria and the cleaning with the removal of yellowed paint and some of the overflowing repainting and grouting. Subsequently, the new plastering was carried out and the chromatic integration was carried out. Finally, an intervention was carried out on the frame that provided for cleaning, consolidation of gilding, filling of gaps and chromatic integration.

The second phase included the restoration of the other panel and the deepening of the diagnostic campaign. Thanks to the infrared shots it was possible to see the preparatory drawing. In particular, on the right door on the inner side, traces of dusting were detected in the drawing of the profile of Goffredo Ferrero (eyebrow and contour of the nose) and brush and charcoal strokes for the saints Cristofero and Sebastiano. On the left door on the inside side, significant changes were noted in the design of Giovanni Stefano Ferrero’s face. In addition, thanks to reflectography, the presence of two different overlapping decorative phases was detected. In fact, phytomorphic motifs related to a first decorative phase were observed in correspondence of the faces of Besso and Giovanni Andrea Ferrero (right door) and in correspondence of the flooring under the kneeling figure of Carlo Ferrero (left door) then covered with the figures of the characters and a second draft of preparation and painting.

The main interventions of this second phase of restoration focused on cleaning the surface, differentiating the intervention according to the oldest and most recent retouching and the chromatic integration intervention.

 

Bibliography

- C. Santhià, Due paintings from the De Conti collection in the La Marmora collection: history and restoration, thesis in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, University of Turin, prof.sse B. Ventura, S. Piretta, a.y. 2015-2016;
- T. Cavaleri, B. Ventura, Bernardino De’ Conti and Collaborator. Technical comments, in The Renaissance in Biella, Sebastiano Ferrero and his children, edited by Mauro Natale, Cinisello Balsamo, 2019, pp. 173-175.