Art Restoration Courses in Naples, Italy

Istituto Europeo del Restauro, Ischia (NA):
The Istituto Europeo del Restauro (European Restoration Institute) in Ischia (NA), Italy, is a key centre for the Cultural Heritage restoration and preservation sector that operates in the fields of training, research and professional specialization in cooperation with important Italian and foreign universities and industries. We offer many training paths within articulated study programmes, sensitive to the European cultural-occupational policies and addressed to an international public of operators and students.

Annual course for restoration of wooden works
Through a didactic path based on the teaching of prevalently practical scientific concepts and techniques, the course aims at providing students with the necessary competence to deal with problems concerning the conservation and restoration of works of art on wooden support.

Participants will also put into practice knowledge acquired through intensive practical training in the laboratory and restoration site, methods for the conservation of polychromatic works (sculpture, panels and gilded artefacts), wooden fittings in general (furniture, frames) and ecclesiastical furnishings (choirs, doors, pulpits, etc.).

STUDY PLAN
- History, techniques and styles of wood decoration from classical antiquity to the early XXth century
- History of wood carving
- Cultural Heritage Entomology
- Biodeteriogenic Microorganisms of Wood Carving
- Methodology and Wood Restoration Issues
- Carving
- Gilding
- Art Photography
- Methods and Techniques of Pictorial Restoration.
- Safety at Work
- Internship in Laboratory and on the Restoration Site.

Half-year course for restoration of wall paintings
Through a didactic path based prevalently on the practical teaching of scientific concepts and techniques, the course aims at providing students with the necessary competences to deal with the problems concerning the restoration of wall paintings, considering primarily those related to the material and then those related to artistic and constructive techniques.

The student will be able to put into practice the knowledge gained through an intensive practical training directly into the restoration site , which is essential for learning a profession. In the six months of the course all the major operations related to a restoration project will be faced, from preliminary diagnostic to monitoring of end treatment. The aim is to provide the necessary tools to address a wide range of conservative situations in order to apply in situ the various intervention techniques. 

STUDY PLAN
1) Introduction to the course
2 ) Techniques of first responders
3 ) Cleaning of the painting film
4 ) Consolidation and Protection
5 ) Adhesion of the plaster
6 ) Puttying and retouching painting.



Monothematic Courses


Biodeteriogenic Microorganisms of Wood Carving
Lectures about wood tissue anatomy with particular reference to the structures that are most vulnerable  to microbial colonization.
Physical and chemical characteristics of the main biopolymers that distinguish or typify wood (lignin, lignocellulose, hemicellulose and pectin).
Principal agents of biodeterioration: fungi, filamentous bacteria, non filamentous fungi, actinomycetes and algae.
Analysis of predisposing factors (biotic and abiotic)
Aesthetic alterations and maculiculi fungi.
Main antimicrobial products used for prophylaxis and control of microbial colonization; in vitro assessment of their effectiveness.

Laboratory practice about:

Major environmental monitoring techniques and isolation of microorganisms.
Observation techniques.. Method of  treating "wood" with active antimicrobial substances and their mixtures.

Type of instruction: Theoretical and Practical.

Course duration: 30 hours.

Integrations on mosaic flooring and murals

The course is aimed at enhancing comprehension of the various techniques for integrating mosaics, distinguishing: mosaics on trodden and non-trodden flooring, glazed mural mosaics, stone tile mural mosaics. The class provides extensive knowledge of the constituent materials and products used in operations of restoration and reintegration.

Type of instruction: Theoretical and Practical

Duration:  72 hours divided in 5 days of theory and 5 days of on-site practical activities.

Writing materials and illuminating techniques in the Middle Ages
The course is conceived as an historical overview: the starting point is the preparation of the parchment, colour and ink as well as  the gilding which, all together, lead to the true decorative process. The program also includes the definition of the fundamental issues concerning illumination (etymology, function, use). 

Projection of images on the material: manuscripts, minerals, dye plants. Parchment preparation for illumination. Manufacture of about 8 pigments, mineral and plant colours (the basic ones)  and red-lead preparation that is spread under the gold leaf (assiso)  of the gilding according to the “De Arte Illuminandi” treatise. The use of the brush for surfaces and shadings. The basic techniques of illumination. Gold leaf gilding. Quill pen coloured drawing, realization of the so-called  bianchi girari style. Introduction of  painting in layers (gothic style). The genuine scriptorium: pen, ink, parchment, paper, etc.. (practical demonstration). Preparation of India and iron-gall inks.

Teaching methodology: theoretical and practical

Duration: 3 days, 24 hours

Photographing Works of art

This course is recommended to those who wish to enter the publishing industry and cultural heritage sector.

The photographic reproduction of works of art is an extremely complex technical branch of photography that involves being familiar with the methods, issues and use of instruments, in order to acquire a highly needed professional competence in the field of diagnosis, preservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage and in the specific field of publishing.

Type of instruction:  Theoretical and Practical

Duration: 24 hours.

Laser cleaning/ablation in the conservation of Cultural Heritage
This course is recommended to restorers.

The application of laser light in the restoration of cultural heritage is one of the innovative realities of the sector. During the course you will learn the principles upon which the functioning of the laser is based, its use, methodologies and issues related to its proper application on different materials. The practice tests provided during the course will demonstrate the advantages of this tool when used with competence.

Type of instruction:  theoretical and practical.

Duration: 32 hours.

Gilding techniques
This course is recommended to restorers and to  those who wish to become gilders.

Restoring a gilded work of art is rightly considered a complex procedure due to the type of degradation that occurs in artefacts decorated with this technique and the  wide variety of craftsmanship used. It appears clear, that  to carry out a correct restoration, knowledge of the history, techniques and   gilding methodology is essential  in order to operate in an accurate targeted manner. This course teaches the principal techniques and methods of the Italian, French and German schools, illustrating their different issues and methods of restoration.

Learning an artistic technique also means acquiring a profession; and  the large demand for specialists in the private committee of this field   confirms this

The Institute will provided each student with all the necessary equipment and supplies.

Type of instruction:  Theoretical and Practical

Duration: fortnightly 80 hours

Identification and control of insects that are harmful to the conservation of Cultural Heritage
This course is recommended to restorers  and students in the Cultural Heritage sector, as well as to museum curators.

Biological deterioration is one of the most significant causes of the deterioration of artecrafts; in particular, the attack of harmful insects on different kinds of materials used for the realization of works of art represents a serious problem.
The aim of the course is to acquaint participants with  the most important families of insects, their species, life cycles, identification methods, damage, prevention systems and pest control.

Type of instruction:  Theoretical and Practical

Duration : 18 hours

Illuminating Images
Designed particularly for restorers who often find themselves having to identify a scene or a character merely from a few fragments, or to understand, the historical and iconographic context of a biblical representation of images, just from a few clues.

The short course deals with the study of biblical themes in religious art, from its origins to the Renaissance and Baroque, analyzing the problem of visual transposition of the biblical text in image form, of the influence of exegesis on the figuration of art as illustration and / or commentary on the biblical text, of artistic conventions in the figurations of stories and characters.

Sporadic comparisons with Jewish iconography will be useful to understand the relationship between exegesis and art. The major biblical subjects of Christian art will be presented in a variety of artistic media: manuscripts, mosaics, sculpture, painted on wood and monumental works, and will be analyzed through the stylistic developments over time.

The course is comprised of four sessions that will address the following topics:

1. From the symbol to the biblical narrative: the exegesis of the images

2. Saved from the waters: from the childhood of Moses to the exodus from Egypt

3. In Search of the ark: the sacred receptacles and their forms

4. The representation of the invisible and the faces of the divine

Each session is four hours long, and will conclude in a 'test' related to iconographic images.

Type of instruction: theoretical

Duration: weekly for a total of 12 hours

Carving
This course is recommended to wood restorers  and to those who wish to enter the arts & crafts sector. Carving and the different typologies related to the history and implementation of this technique are a good reason to attend this course for those who want to acquire a profession  in the field of wood or artistic restoration.

After a theoretical overview of the main techniques, the program will illustrate the design and execution of decorative details. The Institute will provided each student with all the necessary equipment and supplies.

Type of instruction:  Practical

Duration : fortnightly for a total 80 hours

Methodological orientation for the conservation and restoration of seals
The purpose of the course is  to illustrate the seal artefact in its material- technological polymorphism. Composition, methods of construction, modes of appending and much more.

An integral part of the course, these concepts are intended to further the understanding of the nature of seals and provide a basis for directing and managing an approach for their protection and restoration. The conservation of seals, heritage of extraordinary importance in archival, library and museum ambits, requires specialized skills and highly qualified training.

Type of instruction: Theoretical and Practical

Duration : 3 days (16 hours)

Executive Tecniques of Wall Pantings. From Cennini’s Fresco to the Auxiliary Tempera and White Lime
The course involves the construction of wall paintings replicas in order to understand the pictorial procedures used in the past.
The objective of the course is to learn the techniques of wall paintings through practical experience, from the preparation of the support to pictorial procedures. During the lessons, the study of the impact of procedures on their pictorial degradation and restoration methods will be also analyzed.

Type of instruction: Theoretical and Practical

Duration: 12 days - 80 hours


Intervention Phases for the Conservation and Restoration of Wall Paintings.
A cycle of full immersion courses directed to professionals in the field.

The Institute offers six courses related to the operational steps of a restoration project aimed at the conservation of the wall paintings: in particular, the student will have the opportunity to study the methodology and the issues related to the restoration of the fourteenth-century paintings of the School of Giotto, located inside the crypt of the Cattedrale dell’Assunta at the Aragonese Castle in Ischia.

Each module will include theoretical and practical lessons, both in the classroom and on site.

The goal offered by these modules is to acquire theoretical and operational knowledge and expand one’s professional skills.

The courses will be the following:

-THE RESTORATION PROJECT.

-DIAGNOSTICS APPLIED TO THE RESTORATION OF WALL PAINTINGS.

-FIRST INTERVENTION TECNIQUES FOR THE RESTORATION OF WALL PAINTINGS.

-CLEANING TECNIQUES APPLIED TO WALL PAINTINGS.

-ADHESION, CONSOLIDATION AND PROTECTION.

-STUCCO WORK, REIN TEGRATION AND PICTORIAL TOUCHING-UP

Type of instruction: Theoretical and Practical

The duration and cost depend on the course chosen

The Removal and the Tearing of Wall Paintings
The course involves the study of the technique of separation of the wall paintings in the course of time and the conservation of wall paintings detached, accompanied by practical implementation of the posting of some replicas with the technique of detachment and Jerk: the trestle, detachment, lining, the accession of a new medium, outplacement.
Forty hours of intensive theoretical and practical training that will enable participants to learn and perform different operational methods related to these technical procedures.

Type oif instruction: Theoretical and Practical

Duration: 5 days - 40 hours

Monthly Courses:

The Restoration Site about the Restoration of Wooden Artifacts
‘Full immersion’ monthly courses have been specially conceived for specialists and graduates or undergraduates in the heritage conservation sector who wish to acquire in-depth knowledge of the theoretical notions obtained during their academic studies.

These courses are carried out directly on the field, thus giving participants the opportunity to experience a real operative situation with all thets problems connected with restoration operations as well as safety on the job and deadlines. Applicants can choose between two different didactic modules.

A) The “Restoration Site” course where students and teachers together make up a regular intervention team destined to carry out the restoration of a great work in the field.

B) The “Restoration Laboratory” course in which students can access the Institute’s laboratories and take part in one or more operations on mobile works of art (sculptures, panels, decorations, gilded artefacts) in order to become familiar with modern methodologies and problems of this type of restoration.

The Restoration Site about the Conservation and Restoration of Decorated Architectural Surfaces
Through an educational program based on theoretical and mainly practical teaching, the course aims at giving students the skills needed to deal with the special problems related to the first intervention and the preservation of a decorative apparatus in an evident state of decay, exposed to elements .

The course consists of introductory lectures in classroom and putting into practice the knowledge gained by intervening directly in the restoration site set up in the Cathedral Church of the Aragonese Castle in Ischia.

The students will be provided  with the necessary instruments to deal with the most diverse range of conservative situations, in order to preserve the current state of decorated architectural surfaces and block the progressive and relentless degradation.

Topics:

- The degradation of the works exposed to the elements: the run-off of rain water, salts pollutants, wind erosion, the biodeterioration.

- Techniques and strategies for preventive conservation: the temporary stabilization of the works and the reduction in the incidence of degradation.

- Checking the status of conservation, planning of diagnostic testing, documentation, construction, operations and pre-consolidation before cleaning, the project intervention.

Type of instruction: Theoretical and Practical

Duration: a month -  160 hours.

Underwater restoration - Experimental course
Course for the underwater restorer: from diving licence to the field of submerged archaeology.

The restoration of archaeological finds begins in the field with an intense interdisciplinary rapport between the archaeologist and the restorer, be it a dry, humid or submerged environment. The idea of training ‘Underwater Restorers’ to understand the problems encountered by archaeologists during the recovery of submerged finds and to collaborate with them by offering their know-how of the subject matter, gives an idea of the importance and uniqueness of this course.

The growing number of marine archaeological parks has confirmed the necessity of creating this new modern professional figure, who is capable of coping with all the problems connected with managing and conserving underwater works ofart.

The realisation of this experimental course derives from an intense research programme begun in 1996, the year in which Teodoro Auricchio, then director of the Institute for the Restoration of Wood Artefacts in the city of Piacenza, conceived the idea of an underwater restorer. Five years later, during the restoration of the ‘wet wood’ in the ruins of an early Middle Ages hut in via Bacchini (Fidenza 2001), prof. Auricchio experimented with the laser system underwater for the first time. In 2007, the results of this experience induced the European Institute for Restoration, together with the EL.EN Group in Florence, to perfection and patent the first laser in the world able to operate in an underwater environment. The first course for underwater restorers (TGIRAI) was realized in the same year.

The course is divided into two groups:

Class A is for those who do not yet have a diving licence.

Class B is for those who have a diving licence.

The syllabus for both classes entails a subdivision into three didactic moments.

Programme for class A.

1) Acquisition of a diving licence: Anis-Cmas Open Water Diver down to 18 metres. During the first days, students will follow a theoretical and practical course with highly specialized staff in order to qualify for the licence.

2) The second phase is dedicated to the acquisition of scientific and technical notions of underwater restoration.

3) In the third and last phase, specialization will be acquired. 4 days of immersion are planned for acquiring the diving licence and 5 days are intended for in-field study and immersion. An underwater laboratory and archaeological camp will be set up, attempts at recovering and resurfacing of finds will be made, participants will be taught to use an experimental laser and all the necessary equipment for underwater conservation and restoration operations.

Programme for class B

The programme for class B differs only in the teaching schedule, since participants already have a diving licence. Actually during the first days of the course, students will acquire technical-scientific notions related to the materials treated and methodologies of underwater restoration and recovery of finds. In the following days lessons will follow point 3 of the programme for class A.

Instruction: Theoretical-Practical.

Duration: 72 hours per week


Summer School
The course takes place in the restoration laboratories of the Institute in order to allow members studying and relaxing in the magnificent island. Restoration lessons and practical tecniques are held from Monday to Friday, from 9.00 a.m to 13 p.m., giving the student free time in the afternoon. In order to promote a really interesting course, study programs with monthly and forthingly deadline, can be directly organized with the professor, requesting the topic selected from among those listed below, at the time of enrollment.

The registration fee includes not only the development of the educational program by a specific professional of the sector but also materials, equipment, insurance, clothing and personal accident prevention means.

In addition, members can choose to participate in the program "Learning Italian", a simple and effective full-immersion course that will enable participants to learn and practice Italian language in group or individual lessons with a native speaker professor. Taking part in this module also means living leisure and socialising moments together with the staff of the Institute and attending some lessons in different locations of the beautiful island. The module consists of eight weekly meetings of two hours each, for the entire duration of the restoration course.

List of courses:

1) Introductive Course about “The restoration of wooden sculpture”

2) Introductive Course about “The restoration of wooden furniture”

3) Course "The restoration of the eighteenth century furniture."

4) Course "The restoration of polychrome wooden sculpture"

5) Course "First level Gilding"