Installation of a Selene System in the Princeton University Library

In August 2023, Jorge Cano and Carlos San Juan completed the installation of a Selene Photometric Stereo System inside the Princeton University Library. This pioneering recording system developed by Jorge Cano and the Factum Arte engineering team is the first of its kind ever installed in the US and is part of a larger initiative - the Selene Club. The installation was followed by a training session and the first tests on several items from the Library are showing promising results. More on the project

Press release: A POSITIVE APPROACH TO SHARING

On the 23rd June 2023, two monoliths were brought to the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC. For the first time, the one remaining within the collection of the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, will be a facsimile, while the original will be returned to Nigeria. At a time when the debate on restitution and repatriation is centre stage in cultural conversations, digital technologies are presenting new ways of thinking about – and perhaps even resolving some of – the issues. Share the press release | Read more on Apollo Magazine

The Sir John Soane Exhibition at Aynhoe Park

Factum Foundation was tasked by RH England with the creation of a series of facsimiles that will form part of the restoration and refurbishment of Aynhoe Park, a 17th-century country estate in Oxfordshire. The re-materialised models of great classical buildings, the bust of Soane by Sir Francis Chantry, and the new model of the façade of 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields are a tribute to Sir John Soane’s work to remodel Aynhoe Park in 1798, and were all created in collaboration with Sir John Soane's Museum in London. More on the project

Facsimile of Medardo Rosso's Concierge for the city of Tortona

On June 9th 2023 Factum Foundation was invited to participate in the Study Day about Medardo Rosso's sculpture La Portinaia (Concierge). The event was organised by Fondazione Cassa del Risparmio di Tortona and curated by Dr. Sharon Hecker, expert on Rosso's work. Factum also produced two physical reproductions of the artwork, which will remain in the Pinacoteca Il Divisionismo's collection in Tortona. More on the project

Digital restoration of a lost Banksy

In collaboration with Dover District Council, in March 2023 a team from Factum Foundation was tasked to record the shape and surface of a painted-over Banksy in high-resolution before the scheduled demolition of the building the artwork used to be part of. The digital data will become part of the town’s historical records, and the artwork can now be recreated in digital or even physical form as a facsimile, in a new location around the town or elsewhere, subject to Banksy’s approval. More about the project

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 were 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.

More on the project