D22-TE-2014_Genoa, Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata del Vastato, G. C. Procaccini, Last Supper

Facilitated description:

 

The Last Supper is a painting on canvas made by Giulio Cesare Procaccini in 1618 - 1620.
The painting is kept in the church of Santissima Annunziata del Vastato in Genoa.
The painting represents an episode of the Gospel: The Last Supper of Jesus with His Apostles.
The La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre restored this painting between 2014 and 2017.
The restorers detached the painting from the wall of the church. This operation was very difficult because the painting, very large, was 10 meters high.
The restorers took the painting to the laboratories of the Venaria Restoration Center and lined the canvas (they applied a canvas behind the painting to reinforce the painting).
They mounted the painting on a new frame (wooden structure that serves to support the painting).
Some restoration students also participated in the restoration for their thesis work.

 

 

 

 

Abstract of the intervention:

 

The large canvas with the Last Supper by Giulio Cesare Procaccini, from the Church of the Santissima Annunziata del Vastato in Genoa, left the Centre’s laboratories in November 2017 after 3 years of restoration, to be exceptionally displayed to the public at a close distance at the Gallerie d’Italia, in Piazza Scala in Milan, for the exhibition ‘L’Ultimo Caravaggio. Heirs and new masters" (30 November 2017 - 8 April 2018). 
The extraordinary size of the work (about 40 square meters) and the complexity of its restoration were for the Centre an extraordinary opportunity to work on large-format canvases: in addition to the 10 restorers of the Canvas and Tables Laboratory, the intervention involved 4 alumni of the internship degree course, 2 art historians, 2 diagnosticians of the scientific laboratories and 2 photographers. For the project, the constant support of the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Genoa and the Compagnia di San Paolo were decisive.
The painting had been removed as a matter of urgency from the counter-façade of the church of the Annunziata, where it was located at a height of more than 10 metres, because the original canvas had a dangerous detachment from the lining canvas. He arrived at the Centre in 2014 and underwent an intervention made challenging by the monumental dimensions of the work: each movement required the commitment of all the Centre’s restorers to roll up, unroll and place the large canvas vertically. In particular, the lining and tensioning interventions on the new frame were a challenge for the treatment of such a large surface, which required very long processing times for each restoration operation. The activities have been constantly documented to give back every detail of a truly exceptional intervention. 
Finally, the project also had educational implications with the thesis works of Valerio Garofalo "The restoration of theThe Last Supper by Giulio Cesare Procaccini: intervention project and study for the cold lining of a large-format painting’ and by Vito Ferrante ‘Il restauro dell’The Last Supper by Giulio Cesare Procaccini: study of Mowilith-based vinyl liner adhesive removal systems’ (Year 2015-2016).