RESTORATION OF MURAL AND STONE ARTIFACTS

Fresco – Mezzo Fresco – Secco Paintings

Fresco is an ancient mural painting technique executed upon freshly laid lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigments, generally of mineral origins. In this way, once the plaster has completed the process of carbonation, the painting becomes an integral part of the wall acquiring a particular resistance to water and time.

It consists of three elements: support, plaster, color.

• The support is made of stones or bricks.
• The plaster (in Italian intonaco, tonaco or tonachino) is the most important element of the entire fresco. It consists of a dough made with fine river sand, marble powder, sieved pozzolan, lime and water.
• The color, which must be spread on a fresh plaster (hence the name fresco), must belong to the category of oxides, as it should not interact with the chemical reaction of the lime.

Variants of this technique only for the application of color:

Mezzo Fresco or Lime Paint: executed on wet or dry surfaces spread with milk of lime, the painting is executed with colors for fresco and a small amount of lime.

Secco Painting: it is done on dry plaster (secco means "dry" in Italian). The pigments require a binding medium in order to remain attached to the wall.

RIGNANO BEFORE/AFTER		CAPRANICA BEFORE/AFTER
RIGNANO		CAPRANICA

RESTORATION OF PAINTINGS OF CANAVAS

The origin of the use of canvas as pictorial support is lost in antiquity, while remaining a marginal technique. Traditionally it is made of interlacing of linen fibers, hemp or jute, but with the modern age is also widely firmly established the use of cotton and synthetic fibers. The different material wefts have a significant influence on the painting effect: subtle wefts such as linen allow more detailed finish, hemp or jute are suitable for free painting executions or big works. Originally the canvas was sticked on by glue on wooden boards, only since the Renaissance the canvas had begun to be nailed and stretched over movable looms provided with keys to ensure the tension, creating the kind of support that is still the most widely used among the artists. This system ensures a constant tension of the canvas, allows to replace the loom in the case of deformation over time and facilitates the transport of the works, since the canvas can be easily removed from the loom and rolled considerably reducing its size. Before being painted the canvas needs (with the exceptions related to the experimentalism typical of modern art) two operations: bonding, which stabilizes the weft of the canvas and removes any hairs present on the surface, and fixing which is the first material base adapted to receive the paint.

GUIDONIA RESTAURI       

RESTORATION OF WOODEN AND GILT ARTIFACTS

In this type of material, we recognize:

• Wooden sculptures
• Paintings on wood
• Carved and inlaid furniture
• Wooden objects covered with silver and gold foils

The polychrome wooden statue represents the typical expression of the cult from the thirteenth century until the Renaissance. Painting on panels was already popular in ancient Greece, Rome and Ancient Egypt, even if in the Byzantine world this kind of painting had a great diffusion and returned to be popular in Europe in the twelfth century. Between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in Italy there was the golden age of painting on wood. In the fifteenth century, with the Humanism and the Renaissance, the traditional patterns were overcome: the gold background disappears and remains only occasionally for light objects such as processional banners. The carved and inlaid wood has a long history through the artistic technique in which ornaments are made in groove or relief on wooden surfaces. The carved objects can be painted or gilded directly or after being covered with a layer of cloth or gypsum. You can also leave the wood with its natural appearance merely polishing it. Gilt objects such as picture frames and sacred elements reflect the style and taste of the period and are enriched by the quality of their finish.

GUDONIA 

AFTER

BEFORE

RESTORATION AND PLASTER APPLICATION

For the restoration of the plaster elements, it is used a scalpel to clean them mechanically  in order to bring to light the original moldings. The separated parts are consolidated through injections of filling with plaster of  inorganic nature. The old plaster is removed and all splits and cracks are covered using a kind of plaster as similar as possible to the original one. Finally a polysiloxan protective layer is placed on all surfaces. 

CAPRANICA AFTER/BEFORE		GALLESE AFTER/BEFORE
CAPRANICA		GALLESE

RESTORATION OF BRICK AND STUCCO LEDGES

Ledges can be of various types: stucco or brick for example. Our company carries out renovations and reconstructions of both. In the case of brick ledges we proceed by removing the damaged parts and restoring them with bricks manufactured in a way that preserves the original motif, or we proceeds to a total reconstruction if the bricks’ texture is compromised, always respecting the originality of the artifact.Our company also realizes a reinforcement of the ledge, by providing holes for placing the threaded bars in the ledge, which then will be drowned in the reinforced concrete that will form the roof light curb. In this way you will have a perfect attachment of the ledge with the rest of the structure, preventing the fall in the case of seismic events.In the case of stucco we will study the original motif in order to rebuild it using casts.

RECONSTRUCTION AND RESTORATION OF PAVINGS

This process consists of the demolition and partial or total removal of the old pavings. Some of these are restored in order to be reused. Most of the time not all the floors removed can be used for the new paving. The missing parts are rebuilt completely equal, with a special manual work. After the laying of the new floor, it is polished in a heterogeneous way, making the old parts, reused, and the new ones, rebuilt, exactly the same.

GUIDONIA		RIANO		TORRITA TIBERINA		MORLUPO
GUIDONIA		RIANO		TORRITA TIBERINA		MORLUPO

RESTORATION OF FACADES AND LEDGES

In this chapter we want to illustrate the methodology of the restoration of facades and, in this first part, the method of searching for any hidden plaster by successive layers worthy of being preserved.As a basic operation for a great restoration of facades and ledges, this is fundamental, not only for the facades for which there are historical evidences about the presence of paintings, but for all the facades of the buildings of the Old Town, also in order to find the original color of the building.Today a proper operation of restoration of facades, provides the perfect focus on the plaster of historical importance even if the presence of mural painting is not necessarily and, in the missing parts of the facade, the use of the so-called "neutrals", executed with the same technique of primitive plaster.These "neutrals" have to be marked and should not be confused with the original part and at the same time they must be used to make this one more evident. In particular, in the case of simple historical color, it is advisable to apply a plaster with the same characteristics as the original.It 's always correct, before applying the plaster, to make tests on site and in major cases by specialized laboratories in order to ascertain the dose and the nature of the ingredients of the mortar. In general, it is advisable to use air lime mortar and marble powder in order to obtain a wall surface with the same color shades of the plaster that you intend to preserve.On this new wall surface, the façade color can be applied using the same painting technique and the same colorings, but looking for a slightly lower shade than the original one.

S. POLO PRIMA/DOPO
S. POLO