The restoration of Antonio del Pollaiuolo's mural painting in Villa La Gallina

The restoration of Antonio del Pollaiuolo's paintings in Villa La Gallina, finished in 1990 after two years of work, has made it possible to carry out a thorough study of the work and the technique used by the artist for its execution, as well as to reconstruct the setting in which the paintings, now in a very fragmentary state, were located Analysis of the work has shown that Pollaiuolo worked a secco,i.e. painting in tempera on completely dry plaster. This technique meant that the paintings were in a poor state of conservation when they were discovered under a layer of plaster at the end of the 19th century. In fact the paint has been abraded, where it has not completely vanished, while the preparatory drawing, executed directly on the plaster, has survived. The remaining traces of color have confirmed his use of precious pigments, such as malachite, azurite and white lead, which can only be used a secco. During the restoration the last traces of the plaster daubed over the top were removed, in order to reveal the remaining fragments of the paintings, which once covered the whole of the wall. The paintings were then cleaned with deionized water and, subsequently, a solution of water and ammonium carbonate in order to remove the old traces of repainting and the salts present in the surface. The consolidating treatment with barium hydroxide has been confined to the architecture in the background and a light retouching with paint has been used to enhance the fragments of the original pictures.