Fresco Restoration 101: Death to Life

10 STEPS TO RESTORING A FRESCO

Well, yesterday was certainly unexpected. I finally finished my fresco based upon Boticelli's Madonna del Mare and was excited to bring it home back to the States. But oh, wait. I painted the fresco on plaster-- meaning an actual wall! Thus it'd be impossibly heavy (and pretty pricey!) to bring back. Our professor, Lorenzo Casamenti, had prepared for this, though.

To take our frescoes home, we were to learn the first part in restoration, namely pulling the fresco painting from the plaster wall and transferring it onto canvas. Dicey, I know. We did what true art restorers did centuries before us and what our professor does regularly to transport valuable frescoes. The only catch, however, is that transferring a fresco from plaster to canvas chips away some of the paint, or in other words, destroys it. But that's when HaRdXcOrE restoration painting skillz come into play!

Here's the transfer, step-by-step (day-by-day...remember that show???):

Step 1. Adhere canvas to fresco (on plaster) with animal glue. This glue is very special and usually made from elephant or giraffe cartilage. No joke. This will cause the painting to peel off from the plaster and stick to the canvas. A reverse image is made.

Step 2. After allowing a full day for the paint to be pulled up from the plaster, you sand away the back portion with all the extra plaster that may have joined the ride and attach another piece of canvas behind the painting using synthetic glue. This creates a "fresco sandwich," (canvas-fresco-canvas).

Step 3. Again, allow a full day for the synthetic glue to dry. To remove the first piece of canvas attached with animal glue, soak the entire "fresco sandwich" in a hot water bath.

Step 4. To detach, rub the painting gently and allow the glue to dissolve while you pull away the front canvas. The painting should adhere to the canvas with synthetic glue (it's no longer the reverse image).

Step 5. Pat dry. Pat dry again.

Step 6. Repeat step 5.

Step 7. If patting's not enough--use a blow-dryer on crack! Aka 100x hotter than a normal hair dryer!

Now for the restoration bit, since most of the painting, as you can tell, is damaged:

Step 8. Paint the missing bits in with dilute tempera paint. Apply onto the parts where obvious damage has occurred. Continue adding dilute tempera tint, really, until it's in the same color family as the original. It's important, apparently, that the paint not perfectly match the original to show where the restoration has occurred without detracting from the piece's entirety.

"We don't want an imitation! We make similar, not the same!"

--Prof

Step 9. Step back and squint-- It's alive!

Step 10. Pick spinach from teeth.

Shadowplay

Today marked our official "Farewell" from LdM. We had a small dinner (tapas-style) thrown in our honor and were seated on the terrace of some fancy hotel of which I can't remember the name.

Anyway, on this terrace dinner party there was a huge sign with the hotel's logo on it. Being the Leo that I am and noting my dear friend's AMAZING camera, I naturally suggested a photo shoot. Silhouette style. Needless to say, insanity ensued.

Also, earlier today (before class) my housemates and I gathered together and climbed Giotto's Campanile, or the famous bell tower, of Florence. Honestly, it was a mere 414 steps compared to the Duomo (463 steps), Siena's Campanile (600 something steps)...and my apartment (73 steps but on a hot day!). At first I was very, very, very reluctant to climb yet another tall building. But somehow I convinced myself that it'd be worth it if I took Quasimodo-inspired pictures at the top of the belltower. Worth it.

Shadowplay:

Kayla, the true arteest

Irene working the sweater, making magic happen

Lisa twerking the angles, making jaws drop

Irene and I truly inspired by Florence...

No, that's not gelato belly. That's my romper belly.

I'm a liger!

And Earlier in the Day...

View of the Duomo from the Campanile

Florence below (Palazzo Vecchio in the distance)

Esmerelda touching the bell...

...AND QUASIMODO LURKING AROUND THE CORNER!!!!!

Bo-Bo a Go-Go

So, I'm finally making a dent on my Amici Degli Uffizi card, Praise the LORD. I spent most of my day/afternoon in the Boboli Gardens relaxing, sketching, and sweating--oh, and getting yelled at by a rude British woman. Anyway, the day unfolded quite nicely: after service at St. James I grabbed a quick lunch from the famous I Due Fratellini panini shop. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall place (from the street, you literally walk into a small open space and order at the counter which barely fits two tiny Italian brothers) but proffers a dizzying array of panini: prosciutto crudo and mushrooms, wildboar salami and butter, pecorino tartufo (truffle) and arugula, herring and parsley sauce, aged lard...the list is endless. The best part is they use only Tuscan ingredients and have been serving since 1875. Gotta love 'em. I got the Tuscan salami with soft goat cheese and fennel. DIVINE:

To make sure that I get my moneys worth from the Amici Degli Uffizi card, after lunch I headed straight to the Boboli Gardens and Pitti Palace, and, by the way, I still love seeing 0 Euros as my cost on the ticket (!!!). It was absolutely gorgeous weather today, so I brought my trusty sketchbook and Country Gentleman Hat. I found a great view near the Porcelain Gallery and sweat --er, sketched-- away. Needless to say, after a few hours in the sun, I definitely needed one of these Medici-sized baths:

Anyway, I hope your day Sunday unfolded nicely and was something a go-go!

BOBO EYE CANDY AHEAD

Cypress Alley

Note: I love cypresses! Cypressi? Who knows. I think I started loving them since I discovered Van gogh's minor obsession with them, too...

The View from the Porcelain Museum

The interpretation. Hm, more poor man's French Impressionist than 15th-century Leonardo da Vinci, but it'll do! I got a little lazy with the tower dimensions so it's on a diet too. Apologies for the poor lighting; LdM apparently doesn't believe in AC or central lighting in student apartments...

Fresco Ha Finito!

I do declare that as of this Tuesday, my fresco is finished. And yes, I'm double-blogging.

I actually finished a few days ago but am blogging this today since this morning I visited La Galleria dell'Academia, which houses Boticelli's original Madonna dal Mare, the painting on which I based my fresco. It was absolutely incredible to see in person. Of course, I had to sneak in an illegal photo of the original ;-P I used my slick Asian ninja skills to pull this one off...Praise raise for camera phones, y'all!!

The Original

The Calendar Copy

My Fresco Foray

To explain why each day has a separate part, fresco painting requires fresh plaster every day. Painting on already dried plaster gives the painting a very temporal and poor quality; however, since wet plaster absorbs the paint the finished product is much more permanent and has brighter colors. Whatever's not painted onto the plaster surface, moreover, is cut off and thrown away. So each new portion of the painting has to be re-plastered, and only then can it be painted upon. Since plaster usually takes 2-3 hours to dry, one must work quickly and confidently. Thus the artist must know his/her capabilities for that small time frame. With that explanation, you can see the daily portions, or le giornate, of my fresco journey!

Day 1: Mary's face only. Much, much meticulous shading.

Day 2: Added Mary's body

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Day 3: Jesus' face finished! The shading for his chubby cheeks took the longest...Zoom in to see!

Day 4: Jesus' body finished. Legs are a little thinner than the original. So, Jesus on a diet!

Day 5: Mary's hands have arrived! And the rest of her clothes.

Day 6: The backdrop is finished here and I ad-libbed her knees...those can always get cut out ;)

In the words of Jesus, "It is finished."

A long day along the Arno

Today was a very long day. I'm actually slightly spent; thus I'll keep this short and keep you fans waiting with bated breath for more pictures.

Anyway, today's shake-down:

This morning at 8am our Art Restoration class traveled to a private Villa in Tuscany to restore an 126-year-old fresco. That sounds old writing it out, but we've restored other frescos and objects much, much older (read: 7th century, 16th-17th century). We used tempera and gouache on the dry fresco to repair the damage and imitate the original scene yet make it perfectly imperfect (the spirit of restoration, truly).

For some reason I decided painting the blank door would be a grand idea. Whoops. I cannot believe my teacher and the villa's owner, who by the way used to be the Director of the Palazzo Pitti, would let me near a fresco nearly six times my age. Anyway, afterwards, they treated us to a home-cooked, country-style Italian lunch replete with wine and olive oil straight from their vineyard and grove.

Later that evening, I also went on a boat tour of the Arno River with my school. We rode in one of the last ten existing work boats of Firenze. Apparently, prior to WWII these boats were plentiful and were used to ship sand and marble into the city for construction. Moreso, it was used for travelling from neighboring cities since the narrow, hilly streets of Firenze were havens for pick-pocketers and petty crime thefts. The boat we were on actually sunk many years earlier and had been underwater for two years. Fortunately, they recovered and restored it--and it now proudly serves as a tourist commodity! **I highly recommend the Arno Boat tour if you are ever in the area. It serves multi purposes: learn the Florentine boating history, enjoy the romantic and serene atmosphere, and have the perfect backdrop for a phenomenal facebook profile photo.

Enjoy the eye candy...should be good after a long, long, long day.

PS. The day was much longer since it included a lengthy visit to the doctor's. I have been wheezing and coughing much lately and thought it might be an upper respiratory infection. Medical school makes me paranoid. Truth.com. Anyway, turns out it was my asthma acting up. Probably from all the plaster I've been snorting.

--PICS!--

Fresco Restoration

Our lanky teacher evaluating the frescoes

Before (note: no trees, but only blobs of color)

After: more trees, more leaves, some background definition. It took a while to match the colors!

Villa-style Tuscan Lunch

Stovetop espresso after gelato

Arno Boat Tour