59mc04-DG-2008_Turin, Galleria Sabauda, F. Da Ponte (Bassanino), La forcina di Vulcano, inv. 422

Facilitated description: 
 

The Forge of Vulcan is a large painting on canvas. 
The painter Francesco da Ponte called Bassano made the painting towards the end of 1500. 
The painting is kept at the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. 
Scientists at the Venaria Center did scientific analysis of the painting in 2008. 
In 2008 the painting was transported to the Venaria workshops along with other paintings by Venetian artists.
The paintings were transported to Venaria during the move of the Savoy Gallery to the new location. 
The scientists did analyses with different types of lighting. 
Scientists have seen many repaintings done during restorations of the past and many parts that had lost the painting.
They studied the paint (layer over the paint) and the colors used by the artist.
 

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention: 

 

Scientific Analysis

The painting The Forge of Vulcan was part of a diasgnostic campaign carried out on 6 works by Venetian masters belonging to the Galleria Sabauda. The paintings, in fact, were in the laboratories of the Conservation and Restoration Center "La Venaria Reale" waiting to be transferred to the New Sleeve of Palazzo Reale, the new headquarters of the Savoy Gallery. The results of the diagnostic campaign and the restoration of two canvases (The Sabine Rat by Francesco da Ponte and Queen of Sheba offers gifts to Solomon Veronese) were presented during the exhibition The Veronese and the Bassano. Great Venetian artists for the Doge's Palace in Turin (Reggia di Venaria, 12 October 2013 - 2 February 2014).
On the painting, in addition to shooting in grazing light, multispectral analyses were carried out (black and white infrared, false-color infrared, ultraviolet fluorescence, digital radiography). 
The black and white infrared did not show any traces of preparatory design, but the presence of which is not excluded. This type of investigation has detected the existence of some retouching and areas with strong abrasions, where the weave of the canvas is visible.
The infrared in false-color allowed the identification of some pigments, while the analysis in ultraviolet fluorescence allowed to observe the homogeneity of the paint layer and retouching and repainting of different eras. 
Finally, radiographic analysis has made it possible to detect the use of a lower amount of lead white.

 

Bibliography

M. Cardinali, P. Buscaglia, M. C. Canepa, V. Parlato, The conservation and restoration interventions, in The Veronese and the Bassano. Great Venetian artists for the Doge's Palace in Turin (catalogue), edited by A. M. Bava, L'artistica, Savigliano, 2013.