After Restoration
The setting depicted in Zuber’s Isola Bella was inspired by the gardens on the real island of Isola Bella, one of the Borromean Islands of Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, which can still be visited today. The scenery consists of lush foliage, exotic flowers and birds, with the lake and the Prealps visible in the distance. Designed in 1842-1843 for Zuber, traditionally credited to Alsace artists, Eugène Ehrmann (1804-1896) and Georges Zipélius (1808-1890), the antique wallpaper pattern contains 742 woodblocks.
Until the early 1600’s, the island of Isola Bella was a rugged crag inhabited by a tiny fishing village, but when the powerful Borromean family came to own the island, they began it’s transformation into a breathtaking villa of beautiful palaces and gardens and as the site of luxurious parties and events for European nobility. Guests included historian Edward Gibbon, reigning King of Italy Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, and Caroline of Brunswick, the Princess of Wales.
The island of Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore
Scenic Wallpaper was contacted to restore a vintage set of Zuber’s Isola Bella at a magnificent estate in the Historic District of Ocala, Florida. The home was built in 1963 and the installation of Isola Bella in the dining room was inspired by the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee, which featured the same Scenic Wallpaper in its historic dining room. The Zuber wallpaper in the Governor’s Mansion was lost in a flood and new replacement sets were installed by Scenic Wallpaper in 2006.
Isola Bella at the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee, Florida
The new owners of the house in Ocala inherited the antique wallpaper with their purchase of the estate, and they contacted us to restore the paper to it’s former glory.
The paper was extremely dirty and we cleaned it before undertaking further restoration. Much of the sky had to be retouched or repainted, as condensation coming through the brick had created patches of discoloration over large areas of the room.
During cleaning
Cleaning sponges
In addition, we restored various chips, holes, and water stains, changing the paper dramatically and bringing it back to its original color and brightness.
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