NORMAL PRIORITY PROJECT

This collection of colorful drawings was fortuitously found in the Vatican Museums’ art storage warehouse. It is a rare and valuable document representing the work of the artist Alessandro Mantovani (1814–1892), for the decoration of the Logge Pie, the last pictorial cycle commissioned by Pope Pius IX Ferretti in 1870 to adorn the vaults and pilasters of the third wing of the III Loggia of the Apostolic Palaces. The entire wing underwent a splendid restoration, financed by the Ohio Chapter of the PAVM. These drawings served different purposes. Some documented the general layout and were submitted to the pontiff for evaluation and approval. Others were used by artists and craftsmen as drafts to compose the different decorative motifs. Thanks to a pilot study performed on one of the drawings, the paper restoration laboratory was able to define the delicate and urgent restoration.

Total Cost: € 45.927,00 ($ 54,037.71)

The artworks with inventory numbers 72431, 72430, 72432, 56929 are in a poor state of preservation for the following issues: coherent and inconsistent particulates; dusty pigments; diffuse fading; stains and gore of varying nature and extent; folds, wrinkles, and deformations of varying extent; and tears and lacunae of various extent. The artwork inventory number 72433.2.1, 72433.2.2, and 52719 shows a mediocre state of preservation. Consistent and inconsistent particles are visible, as well as a dusty pencil line, folds, wrinkles, deformations of varying degrees, drops, and lacunae of varying degrees.

• Dry clean using a soft-bristle brush and synthetic and natural latex sponges
• Measure the pH at several points on the support and testing the solubility of the graphic media
• Wet cleaning using gels and fixing the pictorial layer using a 1–2% aqueous solution of funori
• Reintegration of gaps and tears using cellulose ethers, grain/rice starch, Japanese paper, and a veil of adequate thickness; color adjustment with watercolor paints, where necessary