124mc20-AL-2017_Racconigi, Castello, G. Capello (Moncalvo), Center table, inv. 8729

Facilitated description: 

 

Gabriele Capello made the table in 1840. 
The table is kept at the Castello di Racconigi. 
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the table in 2017 for an exhibition. 
The restorers put the table in an anoxic chamber (a chamber without oxygen that serves to eliminate insects that eat wood). 
They cleaned the table. 
They stopped the tortoise's leg at the bottom that was peeling off. 
They filled the wooden gaps with stucco. 
In the end they painted the table to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The table 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). The table was designed by Pelagio Palagi for the Reposoir of the queen in the gothic farmhouse of the Racconigi Castle park. 

Restoration

The operation began with disinfestation in the anoxic chamber for a period of three weeks. Cleaning from surface deposits followed. The tortoise's leg, detached, was made to adhere again to the support. The slit on the horizontal surface of the base was filled with stucco, then adjusted chromatically. The table top, on which the original finish had been abraded, has been painted to uniform the surface. Finally, a protective varnish was applied to the entire work. 

 

Bibliography

C. E. Spantigati, Sheet 83, 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. 309.