Palazzo Barberini – Conserving Canvas 2022

05 May 2022 - 31 October 2022

In 2022, the National Galleries of Ancient Art implemented the project: Water-based adhesives in canvas paintings structural conservation

The initiative is part of the Conserving Canvas program, a project financed and coordinated by The Getty Foundation dedicated to the structural restoration of canvas paintings. An initiative that aims to encourage the transmission of know-how between generations and promote the sharing of skills and knowledge at the international level.

The Gallerie Nazionali’s project focused on the structural problems of the three grandiose paintings of the Throne Room of Palazzo Barberini. The Battle of Constantine and Maxentius by Carlo Viva (known as Carluccio Napoletano), which is a copy of Giulio Romano’s famous fresco in the Vatican (cm. 295 x 565); and the two monumental canvases made by Giuseppe Belloni between 1665 and 1673 to replace, upon request of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the originals previously commissioned to Giovan Francesco Romanelli and sent as a diplomatic gift of the Barberini to the King of England: The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis (cm. 315 x 715) and Bacchus and Ariadne (cm. 315 x 725).

The initiative gave nine restorers from all over the world the opportunity to actively participate in the structural restoration of the three large canvases through two-week workshops at Palazzo Barberini (4-16 July 2022; 25 July- 6 August 2022; 5-17 September 2022) together with restorers from the Conservation Laboratory of the Gallerie Nazionali and from CBC Conservazione Beni Culturali, partner of the project.

At the conclusion of the project, the results of the workshops and the structural restoration experience were presented at an international conference, which took place from 17 to 20 October, and whose papers are now available online.

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