124mc17-AL-2017_Racconigi, Castello, G. Capello (Moncalvo), Armchair, inv. R 6248

Facilitated description: 

 

The armchair is made of wood and fabric. 
Gabriele Capello created the armchair in 1834. 
The armchair is kept at the Castello di Racconigi in the Etruscan Cabinet. 
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the armchair in 2017 on the occasion of an exhibition. 
The restorers put the chair in an anoxic chamber (a chamber without oxygen that serves to eliminate insects that eat wood). 
They cleaned the chair. 
They stopped the wooden parts that were coming off. 
They filled the wooden gaps with small wooden tiles. 
Behind each tile they put a substance to make recognizable the parts added with the restoration. 
They filled the small holes with wax. 
In the end they painted the armchair to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The armchair of the Etruscan Cabinet of the Castle of Racconigi has been restored on the occasion of the exhibition Genius and mestria. Furniture and cabinetmakers at the Savoy court between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Reggia di Venaria, Sala delle Arti 17 March - 15 July 2018). 
 

Restoration

The operation began with disinfestation in the anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks. Cleaning of surface deposits and consolidation of raised inlays followed. The gaps have been integrated with the same wooden essence. On the back of each tile a mixture of bismuth and paint has been spread to make the integrations and the intervention recognizable. The tiles were then finished and tuned with watercolor colors. The small gaps were grouted with pigmented microcrystalline wax. Finally, a protective varnish was applied to the entire work. 

 

Bibliography

C. E. Spantigati, Sheet 78, in Genius and mastery. Furniture and cabinetmakers at the Savoy court between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at the Reggia di Venari, edited by S. De Blasi, Allemandi, 2018, pp. 298-299.