Profiles of restoration practitioners and commitees

Restoration work underway

Portrait Gallery

Cinzia Pasquali

What is your role on the site?
I’m the representative of the Associated Restorers team in charge of the paintings, sculptures and gilding of the ceiling in the Hall of Mirrors.

What are your particular duties?
As representative of the group, I have to ensure proper coordination of the restoration effort. I also have to make sure that the sixty people working on the team are all pulling in the same direction.
In addition, I determine the areas for test cleaning and pictorial re-integration, which then serve as a reference for the rest of the team. And the rest of the time, while keeping an eye on the overall progress of the operation, I work alongside the other restorers.

What are your professional qualifications?
I began my training at the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, in Rome. It’s one of the two State institutions in Italy that are specialised in the restoration field. I also took a master’s degree in science and technology – the French equivalent would be cultural heritage conservation; to say nothing of a whole series of advanced training courses. I recently attended a seminar on using enzymes to clean paintings, for example.

What was your greatest professional experience to date?
Restoring the paintings on copper in the Chapel of San Gennaro in Naples cathedral. There, twice a year, the saint’s blood miraculously liquefies, which gives this chapel a very special atmosphere. Plus, the task of restoring pictures that are so big, 12 square metres, and executed on such a heavy support, was an exciting challenge.

Pétronille Eynaud de Faÿ

What is your role on the site?
I’m involved in the technical and administrative coordination of the site, as assistant to the project manager. We represent the contracting authority.

What are your particular duties?
The aim is to turn the specific know-how of all individuals involved to the best possible account, and to get all project participants working together in optimum safety conditions while at the same time managing to stay on schedule.

What are your professional qualifications?
I’m an architect.

Franck Lebreuil

p>What is your role on the site?
I’m the Health & Safety coordinator. My job is to organize the coordination of risk prevention along the interfaces between work teams on the site, so as to manage the risks involved for all the different professional areas involved.

What are your objectives?
My objective is to eliminate the risks associated with the kind of work being done within the framework of this restoration project. To achieve that, I have to identify potentially dangerous situations, assess the risks and then propose procedures which enable us to adapt our working methods to include preventive measures. In line with that I plan an organizational schedule allowing effective risk management

What are your professional qualifications?
I have a university diploma in safety and environmental issues and working conditions. I worked for fifteen years in the construction and public works sector before training to become a Health and Safety coordinator. There's a formal requirement, in this sort of job, that one keep one's qualifications up-to-date by doing a refresher course every five years.

What was your greatest professional experience to date?
I would say that the most striking thing about my job is the responsibility that goes with it. If anything goes wrong, the buck stops here. Any accident forces me to take stock, to review and fine-tune our methods and procedures for preventing accidents in the workplace.

Vincent Guerre

What is your role on this project?
I specialise in mirrors, particularly the old mercury type, and I'm in charge of restoring the ones in the Hall of Mirrors. I'm also specialised in the area of gilded wood, which brings in an element of historical research. The aim here, basically, is to replicate the know-how and skills deployed by the original craftsmen as regards both the techniques and the materials used.

What exactly does this role involve?
My job is to make sure that everything concerning the mirrors in the Hall goes smoothly, and that we retain as many of the original mirrors as possible. That means seeing the mirrors are handled safely when being manoeuvred, coordinating their removal and replacement with the rest of the operation, and replacing those that are broken, defective or have aged badly. It's important to align everything on the existing mirrors, their colour, their particular sheen; I only work on old mirrors, that implies taking a very specific approach. We suggest technical solutions to the head architect of the historic buildings association.

What's your background?
I did the Ecole du Louvre, and then studied art history; after that, it was a question of learning on the job. I worked in a number of gilding workshops, and then with several cabinet-makers . And then I began working with glass: there, I was simply learning as I went along, teaching myself, if you like. I've now notched up some ten years experience, and am a member of the CNES, the French trade association of specialists in the field.

Any particular career highlight?
Well, cracking a bottle of champagne in the Hall of Mirrors was a pretty magical experience…

Alain Roche

What are your duties on the site?
I’m site leader, with a team of some ten restorers, all specialised in support/structure. In other words my job is to solve any problems regarding the structural restoration of the ceiling which serves as the support for the paintings, whether on plaster or marouflaged canvas.

What is your mission?
It’s basically twofold. We began by drawing up a detailed report on the current state of degradation of the works on the basis of various assessment criteria; structural alteration of the paintings, detachment of canvas from the plaster, cracking and crumbling of the plaster, peeling paint: everything is carefully diagrammed. We also keep a record of all information which might improve our technical and historical knowledge of the paintings. From the restoration point of view, we then go on to consolidate the plaster, re-glue the canvases and fix the paint surfaces, using the most appropriate techniques.

Where did you do your training?
My training was also twofold. I studied at the INP, France’s National Heritage Institute, but I also gained an engineering diploma at the CNAM, the national arts and crafts conservation school. This dual know-how enables me to analyse structural problems scientifically and to come up with the most effective solutions. Apart from the restoration project at the Hall of Mirrors, I now teach Physics and Physical Chemistry applied to restoration-conservation, at the INP and the University of Paris. I’m also engaged in scientific research, producing publications and taking part in conferences at international level. In 2003 my work on the “Mechanical Behaviour of Paintings on Canvas” was published by CNRS, the national scientific research centre.

What is your greatest professional experience to date?
My stay at the Villa Medici in Rome from 1980-1982, on a restoration scholarship. Those two years allowed me to develop some really exciting research projects.

Valérie Fortis

What is your role on the site?
I’m in charge of the restoration and conservation of the marbles. This is a project spread across a number of phases, defined in accordance with an agreed schedule: surface and deep cleaning, consolidation, then patching of cracked or damaged marbles. The final phase involves applying a coat of microcrystalline wax to the marbles, to restore them to their original lustre.

What are your particular duties?
As team leader I coordinate the restoration work on the marbles. I drew up plans for treatment and conservation methods which were submitted to and approved by the head architect at Monuments Historiques. Our team is made up of four people with different professional backgrounds, so we are able to benefit from exchanging know-how and experience.

What are your professional qualifications?
I studied in Italy, in Venice, specialising in the conservation and restoration of frescoes. I also did a course in museum studies. Later, in France, I studied the techniques and history of stained-glass window making at the GRETA college in Chartres.

What was your greatest professional experience to date?
That would definitely have to be when I worked on the restoration and conservation of the stained glass windows in Chartres cathedral. Spending hours studying the light and colours of the stained glass close up, when it was mounted on viewers in the lab, was an unforgettable experience.