2016
DECEMBER 2016
The extraction of salt from the walls of the vault continues
Directors, restorers and diagnosticians discuss the results of the analysis: the first volume on the restoration of the Sala delle Asse is about to be published
NOVEMBER 2016
The Scientific Committee meets to discuss the latest findings emerged from diagnostics and the cleaning tests
Colleagues of the Musée du Louvre visit the site: Dominique Cordelier (conservateur en chef), Sébastien Allard (directeur du département des peintures) e Vincent Delieuvin (conservateur de la peinture italienne du XVIe siècle)
The journalist Francesca Bonazzoli interview the Director Claudio SalsI
OCTOBER 2016
Restorers keep working on the descialbo and the pictorial integrations
SEPTEMBER 2016
The restorer Alberto Felici puts the laser for cleaning the lunettes to the test
The Group of Urbanfile Milano on the scaffolding of the Sala delle Asse with the restorers and Francesca Tasso. On their page (http://blog.urbanfile.org/2016/09/21/milano-castello-il-leonardo-svelato-piano-piano/), the report of the visit
Link: The restorer Alberto Felici removes the painted cards made by Ottemi Della Rotta to hide the traces of the restoration by Ernesto Rusca, which had been left for documentation sake
JULY-AUGUST 2016 – ON HOLIDAYS
JUNE 2016
The restorers observe the lunettes and start to look for the original painting under the intervention of Ernesto Rusca and Ottemi Della Rotta
Antonio Sansonetti of ICVBC-CNR takes a sample of the salts from the vault for laboratory testing
MAY 2016
The scaffolding on all the four walls is completed. Now every cm of the painting can be seen very closely
Maria Rosa Lanfranchi starts the study on the trees’ trunks while Alberto Felici works on the lunettes
APRIL 2016
The restorer Maria Rosa Lanfranchi intervenes on the nodes and the coat of arms of the vault. We are building the final scaffolding which will occupy all the walls: Sala delle Asse is closed to the public
The journalist Rossella Canevari interviews Francesca Tasso streaming live on periscope (http://www.rossellacanevari.com/onein3/cms/a-world-first-time-solo-per-gli-utenti-di-periscope:-leonardo-da-vinci-(la-sala-delle-asse)/)
The RAI journalist Mario Tozzi shoots an episode of “Fuori Luogo” in Sala delle Asse talking with the restorers
MARCH 2016
The first cleaning trails by laser are made on the north wall lunettes
The construction of the scaffolding which will complete the pilot-project on the vault starts
A video is produced to show the multimedia projection that accompanied and amazed Sala delle Asse visitors during Expo Milano 2015
FEBRUARY 2016
The restoration of the north-east wall goes on: scalpel in hand, the restorers are looking for traces of the original drawing
Two Leonardo da Vinci scholars exchange views in front of the monochrome: Pietro C. Marani and Martin Kemp
Also the Japanese TV wants to take close filming to Leonardo’s painting
JANUARY 2016
The study project of the vault and lunettes goes on. After the salts’ removal phase, the OPD restorers carry out cleaning tests by applying Japanese papers soaked with chelating agents. Once the papers are removed, color is fixed with synthetic polymers