Recording The Creation of Animals at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice

ARCHiVe have just completed a new high-resolution recording of Tintoretto's painting The Creation of Animals from the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.
This is a pilot project in collaboration with art historian Cleo Nisse from Columbia University, who examined several paintings from the museum over the past two years, as part of a research agreed with the Gallerie. More on this project

Falconry manuscript discovered at the University of Lund

To study and popularise the history of falconry, the MEFA assembles digital copies of Arabic manuscripts which preserve handbooks written centuries ago. A near-complete Arabic copy of a popular falconry manuscript written for al-Mutawakkil has now been identified inside the University of Lund Libraries in Sweden by historian Anna Akasoy (Graduate Center of the City University of New York).
More on the Middle East Falconry Archive

2080dpi achieved with the Selene

After testing several commercial options for data processing, we decided to follow the same route as the Lucida 3D Scanner and develop a custom software. After a year of work, the SeleneProcessor is fully functional and the Selene Photometric Stereo System was able to process 50-megapixel images in just over 20 seconds, producing a tile of 20x14cm at 2080dpi.
Interested in acquiring a Selene? Contact us

Facsimiles of two Raphael Cartoons on display in Vicenza

The facsimiles of St Paul Preaching at Athens and The Sacrifice at Lystra will be on display until July 9th 2023 inside the exhibition 'Raffaello. Nato architetto', curated by Guido Beltramini, Howard Burns and Arnold Nesselrath at the Palladio Museum in Vicenza. The original Cartoons were recorded in high-resolution at the V&A in 2019 and are now able to travel in facsimile form.
More on the Raphael Cartoons project

Facsimiles for two exhibitions at Palazzo Te

As part of the ongoing collaboration between Factum Foundation and Fondazione Palazzo Te, two paintings were recorded in high-resolution to make facsimiles for exhibition display in Mantua. The exhibition 'L’imperatore e il Duca. Carlo V a Mantova' (March 24 – June 25, 2023) features a perfect replica of Titian's portrait of Federico Gonzaga, Ist Duke of Mantua (1529), from the collection of the Museo del Prado, and another facsimile is planned for display in October.
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Recording an altarpiece in Gabiano, Italy

In March 2023 a team from Factum Foundation recorded in high resolution for the first time the St. Peter altarpiece by Nicolò da Voltri, originally painted for the monastery church of San Pietro in Vesima, near Genoa, and now in the Castle of Gabiano. The aim is to produce a facsimile of that will form part of the restoration project of the church, which has undergone many transformations since 1159.

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Recording in the Alhambra, Granada

Factum Foundation with Ana García Bueno and a group of researchers from the Department of Painting at the Universidad de Granada are working together on a research initiative that aims to propose a digital restoration of the polychrome surface that used to adorn the Comares façade in one of the courtyards of the Alhambra in Granada.

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Facsimile of Bernini's San Sebastian

For the exhibition ‘L’immagine sovrana. Urbano VIII e i Barberini’, Factum Foundation has produced a 1:1 facsimile of the San Sebastian (1615) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, to be part of the display at Palazzo Barberini in Rome from March 17th until July 30th 2023. The original sculpture, belonging to a private collection and on long-term loan to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, was recorded in high-resolution in September 2022 using a white light scanner and photogrammetry. More on the project

Factum Foundation and GKTSHD

Factum Foundation and Gerger Kültür Turizm, Sanat ve Hoşgörü Derneği (GKTSHD) are launching a project partnership aimed at recording the historical and archaeological site of Gerger, in the province of Adiyaman in Turkey. The first recording trip will happen in October and it is anticipated that this will be the start of an ambitious and ongoing collaboration.

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Bakor Monoliths at the British Museum

Factum Foundation's work on recording, documenting and preserving the Bakor monoliths is featured in the new Asahi Shimbun Display 'The Bakor Monoliths: Endangered Heritage' in gallery 3 of The British Museum, running from February 23rd until March 26th. It includes the work of eight years, in collaboration with several Nigerian and international partners and with the support of the Caréne Foundation, to raise awareness about these endangered artifacts from Cross River State, Nigeria.

The Djehuty Project opens to the public

In 2018, an archaeological mission led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at Dra Abu el-Naga, Luxor, unearthed an early Twelfth Dynasty funerary garden in a remarkable state of preservation. Factum Foundation was commissioned an exact facsimile to form part of the protective framework built to safeguard the fragile ancient structure from further erosion. The funerary garden facsimile was installed in 2019 and since early February 2023, the whole site is now open and accessible to visitors in Luxor.

Recording the Norman Chapel at Durham Castle

From January 4th to 6th 2023, a team from Factum Foundation carried out the complete 3D recording of the Norman Chapel inside Durham Castle, in the north of England. In collaboration with Durham University, the aim is to provide further insight into the questions that still surround the making and materials behind the 11th-century chapel, in order to inform an upcoming restoration project by providing accurate surface and colour information.
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Recording the Beaune Altarpiece

From January 9th to 16th, a team from Factum Foundation carried out the colour and 3D recording of the polyptych known as the Beaune Altarpiece, inside the Hôtel-Dieu Museum. The high-resolution color and 3D surface data will allow to monitor the state of conservation of the altarpiece with a great degree of precision, unmatched to date. The scanned data constitutes a precious documentary fund for the history of this work.
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