Restoring of Statuary and Casting
The Summer Pavilion in the Château de Rosay is amongst the first examples of French neo-Gothic. These attractive pavilions were not intended to be inhabited and light materials were used for their construction. When we first started to restore it under the maîtrise d’oeuvre of Michel Pinet, the pavilion was in a state of almost complete destruction. It hadn’t been touched since its construction. The edifice was saved by injecting resins, and exterior as well as interior elements were remodelled. Using simple construction materials such as lime for distempering, faux-marble and stone facing enabled us to avoid cold perfectionism. The spirit and craftsmanship of the place were scrupulously respected. The charm and freshness of the pavilion were restored.
The project was awarded first prize in restoration by VMF (Vieilles Maisons de France).
Protection of a Fragile Architectural Patrimony
A Precursory Eighteenth Century Pavillon
Château de Rosay - Yvelines - France
Architecte : Michel Pinet
Hôtel de Guines - Courbevoie
Architecte B.F. : Batiste
Maître d’oeuvre : Michel Bourbon
Restoring of Statuary and Casting
Cyril de Ricou’s training under Michel Bourbon enabled him to master restoration and casting techniques. Cyril has worked on such prestigious pieces as the Chevaux de Marly on the Place de la Concorde in Paris (casting the two Coysevox horses), Jean Goujon’s bas reliefs which are presently beneath the small pyramid of the Louvre, the Assyrian great winged bulls from the Khorsabad Court, the Stele of Vultures (the first example of cuneiform writing) and several important Gothic cathedrals.
Restoring volume pieces consists of consolidating the works, extricating precedent interventions that are judged to be unappropriate and, when necessary, completing certain elements, from simple spaces between two joists to recreating the main part of the element.
Decisions are always made collectively and all opinions are taken into account. According to the era, different renderings are proposed. Thus, an element in a nineteenth century décor could be recreated in a highly illusionist manner, whereas the destroyed limb of an antique statue could remain missing. On occasion, the passage of time should be present in restoration.
The Empire façade of a private mansion in the Paris surroundings. This atypical, refined work of art, exposed to the wear and tear of time and history, was long hidden beneath a crude layer of roughcast. Michel Bourbon entrusted us with the project to restore the façade back to its original spirit. Our work consisted of cutting free the many different layers from the sculptures with a scalpel, while injecting stabilizing resins. The gypseries were indeed extremely brittle and their deterioration had to be prevented. The original colours were restored from polychromatic traces and a contemporary watercolour under the control of the French Historical Monument department along with the owner of the mansion.
