Madame de Pompadour in the frame: An exhibition at Waddesdon Manor

Factum Foundation has completed facsimiles of two portraits by Boucher in preparation for the exhibition ‘Madame de Pompadour in the Frame,’ to be held at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, UK (May 25th-October 20th, 2019). The exhibition will offer a rare opportunity for viewers to directly compare a painting with its facsimile, and to see another facsimile within its historic frame, now separated from the original. Further details on both the facsimile and exhibition can be found here.

Digital and physical reconstruction of the vandalised sacred cave of Kamukuwaká

The cave of Kamukuwaká, an important sacred petroglyph site representing the cosmogony of the inhabitants of Upper-Xingu (Mato Grosso, Brasil) and registered national monument has been intentionally destroyed. The digital restoration is now complete and all resources are being focused on the physical reconstruction of the cave that will be sent to Brazil upon completion. Learn more.

Scanning the "Mappa Turchesca"

Factum Foundation has recorded the cherry-wood printing blocks (matrices) of the 16th-century “Mappa Turchesca”, in an ARCHiVe project undertaken together with two students from the Università Iuav di Venezia (IUAV). The heart-shaped map, now in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, has text in both Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, and was probably designed by Venetian cartographers for sale to Ottoman buyers. For more information on this recording that will allow damaged portions of the map to be digitally restored and printed in 3D, please click here.

Canova's Equestrian Statue

Following the success of the maquette recording of Canova's equestrian statue at the Museo Civico di Bassano del Grappa and under the initiative of Chiara Casarin, the director of the museum, Factum Foundation embarked on a much more ambitious project: to create a digital model of the horse, the plaster prototype for which was made by Canova shortly before his death.

More details on this extraordinary project can be found here.

Save the Whitechapel Bell foundry

We need your help! The historic foundry, the UK's oldest continuous manufacturing business until its closure in 2017, is facing being converted into a 'bell-themed boutique hotel' by its new property developer owners. More information on these plans to decimate this historical and cultural icon can be found here, whilst Factum Foundation's full proposal to save it can be read here.

Details on how you can help prevent this from happening can be found through this Spitalfields Life article.

BACK TO WORK IN LUXOR

Factum Foundation are pleased to announce that work is now restarting on the tomb of Seti I, a crucial step in completing one of the central goals of the Theban Necropolis Preservation Initiative: to record and re-materialise the entire ancient site. Based at the recently restored Stoppelaëre House nearby, this work will be led by an entirely Egyptian team trained by the Foundation who will also be undertaking the teaching of local trainees in the areas of digitising and archiving their own cultural heritage.

Read more here.

The 'Virgen de las Nieves'

In February 2019, the facsimile of a terracotta icon of the ‘Virgen de las Nieves’ produced by Factum Arte, alongside a protective shell for the original, was officially inaugurated in a presentation by the governing council to the people of La Palma, the most north-westerly island of the Canary archipelago.

More about the project can be found here.

Support the Foundation

Factum Foundation remains committed to developing tools, skills, and educational programmes that aid professionals, scholars and local communities in documenting, monitoring, studying, recreating and disseminating the world’s cultural heritage. Our activities throughout the world demonstrate that it is possible to integrate diverse voices and more effective approaches to heritage conservation. The Foundation urgently needs your help to preserve culture for future generations. Find out how to get involved here.

In collaboration with Océ: digitising and rematerialising Rembrandt's ‘Portrait of an Elderly Man’

Factum Foundation has combined with long-time collaborators Océ for the recording and reproduction of the piece by the Dutch Master. The recording was undertaken at the Mauritshuis in December 2018, with the Lucida 3D Scanner and panoramic photography. The high resolution colour and relief information recorded by the Foundation was used by Océ to create a replica with Elevated Printing technology. Learn more.
Image © Clemens Weijkamp, Océ

Digitising Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

In 2017, Factum Foundation documented two paintings by Murillo at the Hermandad de la Santa Caridad in Seville, using the Lucida scanner, composite photography, and photogrammetry. High-resolution colour reproductions have been made from the data at a 1:1 scale; these will be displayed in the Hermandad de la Santa Caridad in a setting which will allow visitors to examine these magnificent works at close range. More details on the project can be found here.

The Ladies Waldegrave

As part of a collaboration with Strawberry Hill House to restore Horace Walpole's collection to its original location through the creation of facsimiles, Joshua Reynold's painting from 1780 was recorded in February 2018 using a combination of the Lucida scanner and photogrammetry. The use of both technologies was a strategy which combined the respective advantages of each method: close correspondence to surface texture and speed in the capture process. Further details on the facsimile can be found here.

ART UK SCULPTURE LAUNCH 2019

Factum Foundation is collaborating with Art UK on their mission to catalogue the UK’s national sculpture collection, resulting in the initiatives expansion to also include specific 3D documentation projects. This partnership began with three Art UK photographers travelling to Madrid to be trained in photogrammetry in November 2018, and will continue with a joint recording project in the UK by these trainees alongside a Factum team.

Art UK's sculptural database can be found here.

ARCHiVe - Analysis and Recording of Cultural Heritage in Venice

Factum Foundation, Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Digital Humanities Laboratory of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have launched ARCHiVe, a new initiative dedicated to the use, study and transmission of cultural heritage through digital technologies. The three partners share the belief that digital conservation is leading to a deeper understanding of works of art and cultural heritage. Hence, it is an epoch-shaping opportunity bound to have a big impact on both research and education. Learn more.

J.B. Jackson's Woodcuts

Palazzo Sturm in Bassano del Grappa has partnered with Factum Foundation to digitise and create facsimiles of a series of woodcuts by the British eighteenth-century artist and printmaker John Baptist Jackson; considered one of the most talented and innovative of the era. Jackson is well-known for having revived the Renaissance printing technique known as chiaroscuro.

Read more about the project here.

Photogrammetry Training at Al-Ula

Factum's Otto Lowe spent two weeks in the town of Al-Ula, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, teaching a group of fifteen locals how to record cultural heritage in 3D using photogrammetry. This collaborative pilot project between the Factum Foundation, Art Jameel, and the Royal Commission of Al-Ula (RCU) involved the recording of three ancient petroglyph sites.

Read more about it here.