Restoration of an Original Giambattista Piranesi Engraving

Notes about the restoration project

This restoration project involved an original engraving by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (also known as Giambattista), belonging to a private collection. This artwork is one of his admirable and most famous views of Rome, representing the Port of Ripetta before the construction of the Tiber embankments. 

The art work was very degraded due to a strong washout that had created deep gore on the entire surface of the paper. Alongside the run-off damage, there was a strong oxidation.

After surface cleaning, the work was subjected to a wet intervention with rigid gel, and a deacidification process was performed at the same time as the reduction.

The gores have completely disappeared and the reading of the art work has been recovered, full of details including many that were not noticed before.

The engraving was finally placed back in its original frame after mounting it in a passpartout made with acid free cardboard.

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