The restoration of "Il Pensiero" - Cleaning the gilding

The restoration brings to light the gold leaf gilding still present on the bronze group of "Il Pensiero".
The team of restorers carries out the cleaning by means of compresses of EDTA - disodium salt - applied on the paper veils and then removed manually.
Where the gilding is not present, the copper salts are removed with a soft brush.
On gilded parts, on the other hand, dirt is removed through the application of ion exchange resins and distilled water.