Visit to the Prince's Palace of Monaco: focus on restoration techniques - Episode 1/2

After taking us to the 13th edition of the Festival du Merveilleux at the Musée des Arts Forains in Paris, Marie Sorbier continues her "Grand Tour" to take us to the Prince's Palace of Monaco, which for several years has been restoring Renaissance frescoes discovered during a worksite. 

The story begins in 2013, when restoration work began on the façades of the Royal Courtyard of the Palace. At the time, the painters spotted an older decoration underneath the layers of 19th-century paint. In-depth research revealed that these were in fact frescoes dating from the Italian Renaissance, on the theme of the 12 labours of Hercules. A second discovery will be made in 2016 in another part of the Palace: the Salon Matignon. Then in 2020, further investigations will reveal 220 m² of frescoes in the Throne Room. In all, 600 m² of frescoes have been uncovered over the last ten years.

As Christian Gauthier, head of restoration at the Palais de Monaco, explains, this exceptional discovery is the work of a lifetime for many of the 60 craftsmen and art historians who have been working on this project since 2013: "We had to hold back a lot of tears. It's a thrill for conservators and restorers to come face to face with paintings of this type, so intensely depicted, with such clarity and in such excellent condition. In the final analysis, it's every restorer's dream".

The discovery remains shrouded in mystery, however, as the teams at the Palais have not yet been able to find out who painted the frescoes. However, recent research has turned up a receipt of payment made by the Lord of Monaco to a Genoese painter, Nicolosio Granello, a disciple of Raphael.