Recording Michelangelo's Epifania
In June, Factum Foundation carried out the high-resolution 3D and colour recording of Michelangelo's Epifania in a collaboration with the British Museum. The data will be used to create a layered digital archive, a comprehensive record of information that describes the cartoon's current state of conservation. A new configuration of the Lucida 3D Scanner was designed for the project.
The lost silver map of Al-Idrisi
Factum Arte’s recreation of the lost silver map of Al-Idrisi is now complete. The map, a reconstruction of a lost 12th-century original following a 16th-century Ottoman copy, was exhibited at Daniel Crouch Rare Books at the Masterpiece London art fair, and is currently on view at the exhibition ‘Talking Maps’ at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Book launch: ‘Antonio Canova. Atelier’
A new book, ‘Antonio Canova. Atelier’, tells the story of the ongoing collaboration between Factum Foundation and the Musei Civici di Bassano del Grappa, a project which is transforming the conservation and display of drawings and sculptures by the neoclassical sculptor Canova. The volume will be launched on 18th July 2019.
In development: Photometric scanner
Factum Foundation is constantly looking for new ways to record accurate information of the surface of paintings. Currently in development in the Madrid workshops is the photometric scanner – a fast, portable system that will be capable of recording high-resolution 3D surface texture for both visualisation and re-materialisation.
Digitisation workshop with students from ISIA Urbino 10th - 14th June
Carlos Bayod, Guendalina Damone and Otto Lowe from Factum Foundation's 3D scanning department taught a five-day workshop focussing on non-contact recording technologies to students on the Photography MA course from the design university ISIA Urbino.
Learn more about the practical courses in digitisation technologies given by Factum Foundation.
Save the Whitechapel Bell foundry
The campaign to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry continues. A new website and short film explain why Britain’s oldest manufacturing business should not be turned into a boutique hotel, what a sustainable 21st-century bell foundry could look like, and how you can voice your objection to the planning proposals.
A late-15th-century altarpiece by the Maestro de Perea
The 14 panels of the Retablo del Maestro de Pera have been recorded in a new collaboration with the Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli. The recordings will provide accurate documentation of the late 15th-century altarpiece following the conservation of its panels.
A 3D scan of Fra Angelico's Annunciation
Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation (1425-26) depicts on the one hand the Archangel Gabriel's Annunciation to the Virgin and on the other the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. In the past year, the Annunciation has undergone a complex process of cleaning and conservation.
Factum Foundation contributed to the documentation effort by carrying out a high-resolution 3D recording of the painting following the restoration, which is of particular interest in this case due to the superb surface work executed by the artist. Learn more.
Open call for the new edition of Bando Lucida 2019
The previous winner, the Angelo Annunciante by Gaudenzio Ferrari, was presented in its restored state at a conference on the 29th January 2019. This restoration process that took place at Open Care was explored alongside a series of talks, including one by Guendalina Damone from Factum’s Lucida Lab Milano.
© Image: Open Care Servizi per l'Arte
Opening: Madame de Pompadour in the frame,
An exhibition at Waddesdon Manor
Factum Foundation has completed facsimiles of two portraits by Boucher for the exhibition ‘Madame de Pompadour in the Frame,’ to be held at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, UK (May 23rd-October 20th, 2019). The exhibition offers 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 facsimiles 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 in 2018. Factum Foundation recorded the cave and the digital restoration is now complete. All resources are being focused on the physical reconstruction of the cave that will be sent to Brazil upon completion. Find out more.
PARMIGIANINO'S 'SELF-PORTRAIT IN A CONVEX MIRROR'
Factum Foundation was asked to create a facsimile of this work for MUMOK's exhibition ‘Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520 –1970’, which will run from May to October 2019; this will explore the Op-Art movement of the 1960s and its roots in historical artistic movements that have contemplated the nature of perception and illusion. Find out more about the recording and complex reproduction process.
Recording “The Circle” Stradivari with the Lucida 3D Laser Scanner
Factum Foundation is collaborating with luthiers Julia Sarano and Robert Brewer Young on a pilot project to create a unique 3D study of a rare violin, “The Circle” Stradivari, with a precision measured in microns, as part of a multi-layered instrument archive. The instrument is generously on loan for this study from London violin dealers J&A Beare. Data recorded with the Lucida 3D Laser Scanner, will be used to scale a high-resolution photogrammetry model of the instrument.
Facsimile of a ceiling by Giuseppe Salviati
A sixteenth-century circular ceiling canvas, painted by Giuseppe Salviati (Giuseppe Porta) for the Palazzo Grimani in Venice but now in the Musée Jaquemart-André in Paris, has been re-materialised as a facsimile and installed in its original location. You can find out more about making and installing the facsimile ceiling here.
Neither facsimile nor copy, this re-creation of al-Idrisi's map in silver combines painstaking historical research with advanced digital techniques and the highest levels of craftsmanship, paying tribute to the lost original and offering yet another layer to add to the complexity of its transmission. Find out more.
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