27-DG-2020_Issogne (AO), Castello, A. De Lonhy (attr.), 5 angeli, inv. 1502, 1503, 1535, 1535bis, 1536

Facilitated description: 

 

The 5 angels are sculptures of painted and gilded wood.
Antoine De Lonhy along with another sculptor made the angels in 1480-1485. 
The 5 angels are part of a work that decorated the altar of the collegiate church of Sant'Orso in Aosta. 
Today this work is divided into several museums. 
The angels are kept at the Castle of Issogne. 
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored the angels in 2020 for an exhibition.
The restorers cleaned the angels from the dust and paintings of the old restorations. 
The paintings of the old restorations covered the original painting and changed the shape of the eyes and mouth of the 5 angels.
In the end they painted the parts without color. 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The intervention was carried out on the occasion of the exhibition The European Renaissance by Antoine de Lonhy (Susa, Museo Diocesano, 10 July - 10 October 2021; Turin, Palazzo Madama, 23 September 2021 – 9 January 2022).
The angels are part of a project that included a conservative intervention on the other works of the polyptych of the high altar of the Collegiate Church of Sant'Orso di Aosta (in particular 2 angels and a predella with Jesus, the Apostles, Saint Lucia and Saint Margherita preserved at Palazzo Madama in Turin). 
The conservative recovery of the sculptures has allowed comparisons between the constituent elements of the large dismembered altar machine and insights into the executive technique with a view to identifying elements supporting the attribution to Antoine de Lonhy. 
The intervention was accompanied by a diagnostic campaign carried out in collaboration with the Scientific Analysis Laboratory of the Autonomous Region of Valle d’Aosta (LAS). The main objective was to understand the executive technique, to identify the superimposed substances, the succession of the pictorial layers and the type of binder used.
The comparison with the other sculptures and the diagnostic campaign allowed to advance the hypothesis of a direct intervention of De Lonhy in the realization of the pictorial treatment of the sculptures.

 

Restoration

Cleaning was one of the main operations of the intervention. In particular, a selective removal of materials by scalpel was carried out, monitoring the intervention under a stereoscopic microscope. In this way it was possible to remove the layer of repaintings, which distorted the anatomical characteristics of mouths and eyes and concealed the original polychromy. 

The excellent state of preservation of the pictorial material discovered on the Angels did not require significant retouching, except for limited gaps that were compensated with differentiated integration by four-colour selection.
 

 

Bibliography

- S. Barberi, Sheet 28, in The European Renaissance by Antoine de Lonhy (catalogue), edited by S. Baiocco and V. Natale, Genoa, Sagep, 2021, pp. 304-307;
- P. Buscaglia, S. Cheney, F. Zenucchini, A. Piccirillo, M. Cardinali, L. Appolonia, V. M. Vallet, Antoine De Lonhy and the Assumption of the altarpiece of the Collegiate Church of Saints Peter and Bear in Aosta. Study and criticality of intervention, 19th IGII National Congress. Lo Stato dell'Arte 19, volume of proceedings (Palazzo Garzolini di Toppo Wassermann, Udine, 16-18 September 2021), Florence, Nardini, 2021, pp. 41-52.