MANN, restoration of the great mosaic of the Battle of Isso kicks off

At the end of January, the restoration campaign for the Mosaic of the Battle of Issus, a masterpiece housed at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, will begin. “With the start, in 2021, of the restoration of the Alexander Mosaic, we are together writing an important page in the history of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and therefore of the conservation of cultural heritage,” says MANN director Paolo Giulierini. “It will be a grand restoration, which will be accomplished before the eyes of the world. An exciting seven-month-long journey awaits us: after the meticulous preparatory work, scholars and experts will take care with the most advanced techniques of our iconic Pompeian masterpiece, depicting the famous Battle of Issus. Technology and digital platforms will allow us to follow the delicate operations, step by step, in a kind of ’transparent construction site’, as never before. To carry out such an ambitious and complex operation, a network of scientific collaborations and partnerships of great prestige has been activated by MANN.”

The restoration will be carried out under the supervision of theCentral Institute for Restoration (ICR) and is scheduled to be completed in July; diagnostic activities are promoted in a network with the University of Molise (UNIMOL) and the Center for Research on Archaeometry and Conservation Science (CRACS).

The mosaic, consisting of millions of tiles and large in size (5.82 X 3.13 meters), decorated the floor of the exedra in the House of the Faun in Pompeii. It was discovered in 1831 in a good state of preservation: the large gaps found concerned in particular the left section of the work, leaving the centerpiece of the depiction intact. There was much debate about the need to detach the mosaic and transport it to the Royal Bourbon Museum but, after about twelve years, a commission gave a favorable opinion and the masterpiece was detached on November 16, 1844 and taken from Pompeii to Naples on an ox-drawn cart. On the way, at Torre del Greco, an accident threatened the integrity of the mosaic: the work was thrown to the ground, and it was not until January 1845 that the case was opened to check the integrity of the masterpiece, which, fortunately, had not been damaged.

The mosaic with the Battle of Issus was therefore placed on the floor of room CXL of the museum, according to Pietro Bianchi’s initial design; it was Vittorio Spinazzola, in 1916, who gave it a new wall arrangement in the mosaic rooms.

Today, restoration is necessary because the mosaic has several critical conservation issues, such as detachments of tesserae, surface lesions, swelling and lowering of the surface. In particular, the central right area has undergone a visible depression; punctual swellings are present along the perimeter of the mosaic, probably due to oxidation phenomena of the metal elements of the wooden framework put in place during the 1916 transfer. Also present are microfractures with vertical and horizontal trends, as well as a diagonal lesion, already the subject of veiling during previous restorations. In the last twenty years, thanks to the diagnostic investigations carried out in 2015 with the contribution of IPERION CH.it and CNR-ISTI of Pisa and in 2018 with the participation of the University of Molise and the CNR, the conservative state has been documented, and the conservative reasons for a restoration have been joined by the need for a better organic reading of the work.

From what emerged from the diagnostics, it seems likely that the deterioration phenomena are mainly due to the oxidation of the iron supports of the mosaic and the degradation of the mortars: the accentuated depression affecting the central/right part of the mosaic panel can be attributed to these factors. This is aggravated by the weight of the mosaic and the vertical position, both causes to which the downward sliding of the most superficial layer of mortar and tiles can be traced. In order to get an exhaustive picture of the actual condition of the work, a new campaign of diagnostic investigations has been planned, carried out by the University of Molise and CRACS (Center for Research on Archaeometry and Conservation Science); the investigations will also affect the executive phase of the restoration. Special attention will also be paid to microclimatic and environmental conditions, not only to understand their possible incidence in the process of degradation of the mosaic, but above all to identify the best future display conditions, in terms of lighting and thermo-hygrometric parameters. The restoration project, aimed at the preservation of the material integrity of the work in its current state, will be divided into two different phases: between the two moments, the handling of the mosaic will be carried out, in order to explore the back of the latter, verify the state of the support and fully define the overall conservative interventions to be carried out.

The first phase will be accomplished between January and February 2021 and will consist of securing the mosaic surface before handling. A thorough visual and tactile inspection of the entire surface will be carried out, preliminary to the subsequent work; pre-consolidation of the tesserae and detached mortar layers; cleaning; and veiling with suitable support bandages over the entire surface currently visible.
Subsequently, after affixing a protective wooden planking as well as a suitable metal support frame, the mosaic will be removed from its current location by means of a specially designed mechanical handling system. The direct survey will be accompanied by further instrumental analysis, thanks to which the restoration interventions hypothesized in the first phase of the design will be defined, establishing the actions to be performed on the support to ensure the preservation of the artifact.

The second phase will be accomplished between April and July 2021 and will mainly affect the mosaic support: the work will be carried out on the back surface of the work.

In order to protect the mosaic tiles, a significant technological contribution will be provided by TIM: the creation of special smart glasses, worn directly by the restorers, will allow constant monitoring of the correspondence between the area of intervention and the related non-visible surface.
The instrumentation will allow a 1:1 scale projection of the front of the mosaic onto a special surface, which could be a wall or a cloth specially placed on site. The projection will not only be a working tool for the restorers, but will make what is happening on the site usable by the public; the association to the projection of a series of geophysical parameters deduced from the investigations: these parameters can be interrogated by the operators in real time, analyzing all the data inherent to the artifact as a whole (support and surface). Once the intervention on the support is finished, the bandages placed during the initial intervention phase will be removed and the restoration will be completed with cleaning operations, further and possible consolidation, and final protective treatment.

Ph.Credit Pedicini Fotografi

MANN, restoration of the great mosaic of the Battle of Isso kicks off

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