71-SL-2023_Saint Pierre, Castello Sarriod de La Tour, J. De Chetro (attr.), Lamentation over the dead Christ, inv. No 045SDT

Facilitated description: 

 

Lamentation over the dead Christ is a painted wooden bas-relief.
The bas-relief is a sculpture in which the figures are carved on a background.
Jean De Chetro made the bas-relief in 1460. 
The bas-relief depicts Mary and other characters weeping around the dead body of Jesus. 
The bas-relief is preserved at the Château Sarriod de La Tour in Saint Pierre. 
Scientists from the laboratories of the Superintendence of Valle d'Aosta have done scientific analysis to see how the bas-relief was built.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the bas-relief in 2023.
The restorers have cleaned the bas-relief from the paintings of the old restorations with different techniques.
They filled the wood and paint gaps with stucco (plaster and glue layer).
They painted the stucco and the lack of color with watercolors and paints. 
They painted the bas-relief to protect it from the sun's rays and dust. 
In the end they treated the wood with a product against insects that eat the wood. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The polychrome wood bas-relief, acquired in 2017 by the Autonomous Region of Valle d’Aosta on the antiques market, was the subject of a study and restoration project carried out by the Fondazione Centro Conservazione e Restauro ‘La Venaria Reale’ (CCR) under the direction of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and Activities.
The intervention was aimed at the recovery of the pictorial treatment, considered original, to the verification of the technical characteristics of realization and to the knowledge of the materials used. The restoration was accompanied by a diagnostic campaign carried out by the analysis laboratories of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Autonomous Region of Valle d’Aosta.
The restoration began with a differentiated cleaning (mechanics with scalpel and ultrasonic ablator, chemistry for the Virgin's mantle, with laser technology for hair and areas with gilding), aimed at recovering the original polychromy.
The aesthetic restitution phase provided for the compensation of gaps in wood with epoxy resin and grouting and in pictorial material with grouting. Therefore, the watercolor pictorial integrations were carried out with differentiated technique (chromatic selection, four-color color decomposition) and varnish glazing. The work was then painted with a suitable product with a UV filter. 
No structural improvements have been planned, given the good state of conservation. The wooden support has been subjected only to biocidal treatment to avoid future xylophagous attacks.