RESTORATION IN PINEROLO: A FUNERARY ANGEL

by Giulio de Lorenzi © Marmor - Giorgio Zusi Editore

Work by sculptor Frans Ferzini on a precious statue in Calacatta marble by artist Odoardo Tabacchi.

Scuptor and stone cutter Frans Ferzini from Turin recently completed the restoration of a particularly precious statue in Pinerolo cemetery. It is an angel carved by famous artist Odoardo Tabacchi, born in Valganna in 1836 who died in 1905. His funerary creations are to be found in the leading monumental cemeteries of northern Italy, particularly in Milan, Varese and Turin. The work is in Calacatta White marble of fairly good quality. The only defect is the longitudinal vein in the block which starts in front of the cherub, passes through the chest and proceeds downs to the base through the carved drapery. The statue was suffering from significant neglect in terms of both cleaning and conservation/prevention. First and foremost, a climbing plant had all too easily grown up the statue. The lower branches were growing into a crack in the stone. The racemes extended along the wings, penetrating minor cracks and establishing colonies even in the armpits. Mould had also expanded over almost the entire stone surface. Lastly, the work was affected by sulphuric acid from industrial emissions which, causing the surface to become floury, increasing porosity and opening small fractures.

After having eliminated dead and dry growth, the restoration expert pruned back the living plant and sawed the ivy branches. He simultaneously killed mould growth using an anti-mould product and then reviewed the statue again. It was then washed under gently flowing water, completed with several applications of ammonium carbonate and a specific gel in more complicated points. It was then repeatedly washed with deminaralised water and finally consolidated by means of the application of ethyl silicate and a transpiring water-repellent product. Since acid-based cleaning agents were not used, darker particles were left in the deeper recesses, as in the drill holes between the curls and in certain parts of the lace-work. Some areas were affected by different coloured solutions. The first phonomenon is quite natural and presents the colour of time as an authentic element of worth in a marble work, as well as indicating the original state of purity of the block. The latter, on the other hand, affects the entire lower band of the drapery buried in a layer of earth following brownish absorption.

At the end of the project, an estimate of hairline cracks indicates a level of risk for the fractures in the scroll ornament, fortunately surmounted by the central bust. These hairline cracks may have been caused by heat expansion of the marble, since the compact crystalline structure is always subject to movement; moreover, the work and its protruding arms were all carved from a single block. Other hairline cracks were found in the joint between the wings and the shoulders, as well as on the neck. There is also a continuous fracture in the chest area, right above the scroll ornament, crossing the entire block. It should also be mentioned that previous restoration work involved rebonding the right index finger. Neither the mastic nor the method used are know. If this finger has not been properly pinned inside, it will sooner or later become detached as the bonding agent dries out or because of porosity, a blow or hail and so forth. Frans Ferzini believes this to be a well-founded risk, since there are no external traces of rust, an inevitable consequence if a metal or wooden pin had been used; today, stainless steel of glass fibre pins are used for this purpose.