The restoration of a painting made with alkyd colors and vinyl preparation: "Figure" (1974) by Giovanni Meloni.

Abstract

The work "Figure" by the Veronese artist Giovanni Meloni (1940-2019) is a painting on canvas from 1974 cataloged by the property as "oil on canvas". [...] The red paint layer was affected by a pronounced bowl-shaped crack, with lifting and some loss of color where the paint layer was thicker. The paint layers, by cracking, prevailed over the resistance of the cotton support, causing it to deform and generating the imprint of the craquelure visible from the reverse. The work presented a pictorial film at risk of further loss of color and needed an intervention aimed at restoring the adhesion of the latter to the underlying layers, ultimately healing the gaps already present. The thesis project involved diagnostic analyzes for the identification of the nature of the binders (proven to be an alkyd and a vinyl), tests with a selection of materials for dry-cleaning; the comparison with previous scientific studies of various synthetic adhesives and tests on mock-ups with forced absorption on a suction table. Finally, the study of the visual perception of color gaps and the camouflage retouching intervention.