Conservation

3D Scanning San Petronio in Bologna, June 2013. In this time lapse video one can see the 3D scanner in action, trying to go around obstacles (scaffolding and other architectural elements) to scan from different angles to reach undercuts.

Learn more about the project.

Factum Arte's Lucida 3D laser scanner, though still at a prototype stage, was used in the Museo Del Prado in April 2012 to record paintings by Titian and Rubens. The results demonstrated that the scanner had overcome many of the limitations that have restricted the use of 3D scanners for the documentation and monitoring of cultural artifacts.

The facsimile of La Defensa de Zaragoza by José Álvarez Cubero was finally installed in Priego. La Defensa de Zaragoza depicts an important event in Spain's independence from Napoleon's France. The artist José Álvarez Cubero sculpted the piece after the end of the French occupation, this becoming his most important work.

The original sculpture is owned by Museo del Prado in Madrid. With its collaboration, Factum Arte produced the facsimile commissioned by the Ayuntamiento de Priego de Córdoba, hometown to the sculptor. The final piece is now on permanent display in a square of Priego.

Learn more about the project.

This video shows the process of scagliola workshop carried out by Factum Arte's Sebastián Beyro. The object featured in the video is part of an altar designed by Piranesi now available as a limited edition along with other objects in a collection created by Factum Arte in collaboration with Fondazione Giorgio Cini.

View the exhibition page

One of the key elements of the exhibition Le Arti di Piranesi: architetto, incisore, antiquario, vedutista, designer is a 12-minute animation of Piranesi's Carceri series made by Gregoire Dupond at Factum Arte specifically for the exhibition. This series of sixteen visionary images, originally etched by Piranesi when in his late twenties, shows the workings of his imagination, merging his architectural ambitions with his obsessive interest in antiquity. Watching Gregoire Dupond's animation is literally like entering Piranesi's mind. A CD containing both high-resolution reproductions of the prints and the complete video will de released soon.

Learn more about the project.

Factum Arte has collaborated with voxelstudios in the complex process of 3D modelling Giambatista Piranei's engraving for the exhibition The Art of Piranesi: architect, engraver, antiquarian, vedutista, designer, to create three dimensional objects following his unrealised designs. The exhibition will be showcased at Venice Biennial of Architecture, in the Sale del Convitto on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore from 28th August until the 9th of January 2010.

Learn more about the project.

Factum Arte and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini reached an agreement with the Municipality of Caravaggio in December 2008 to develop a research centre devoted to the work of Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio). The project begun with the high resolution recording of three paintings in San Luigi Francesi in Rome and a facsimile was installed in Caravaggio.

Learn more about the project here.

Short video update on the progress of the North wall of the Tomb of Tutankhamun facsimile as of Summer 2010.

Learn more about the project.

The tripod in this video has been created in 3D Studiomax by Voxel Studio and Factum Arte, the fine textures were achieved in a program called Z Brush. The tripod is inspired by one of the etchings in Piranesi's Complete Etchings by John Wilton-Ely found near Naples. This is one of the objects made by Factum Arte for the exhibition Piranesi.

Go to the exhibition page

The high-resolution recording and production of an exact facsimile of the Tomb of Tutankhamun is part of a major initiative by the Supreme Council of Antiquities to preserve the tombs in the Valley of the Kings while making important tombs that are either closed or in need of closure accessible to the public and to scholars.

The project has been launched by Dr Zahi Hawass in collaboration with the University of Basel, The Friends of the Royal tombs of Egypt, the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Preservation and Factum Arte.

Go to the project

After all the recording of the tomb of Tutankhamun was completed, work on the processing of the data and the facsimile of the burial chamber and sarcophagus of Tutankhamun went underway.

This video shows the process of routing employing 3D data at a resolution of 100 microns to produce an exact relief surface of the wall of the room of Tutankhamun.

Go to the project

In the autumn of 2006, the Musée du Louvre reached an agreement with Fondazione Giorgio Cini and granted Factum Arte access to record Veronese's great painting les Noces De Cana

Go to the project

Factum Arte produced a conservation facsimile of a section the tomb of Seti I from the Valley of Kings for the Desert Valley Project. The project had the support of both the Ministry of Culture of Egypt and the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Specific emphasis was placed on installing into the facsimile sections of the tomb removed in the nineteenth century by the British, French, Americans and Italians.

Go to the project

Commissioned by the Danish company United Exhibits Group, Factum Arte produced a 1:1 scale facsimile of the tomb of thutmose III (Valley of the Kings, Egypt). The facsimile featured as a central piece of the exhibition The Quest For Immortality at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which has subsequently toured to seven other museums in the US and visited a total of twelve museums.

Go to the project

A scanning test on one of Kurt Schwitters pieces as part of Factum Arte's work on the only remaining Merz building on the island of Hjertoya.

Go to the project

Factum Arte carried out a full photographic survey of Kurt Schwitters' only remaining Merz building on the island of Hjertoya, near Molde in Norway. A facsimile and partial reconstruction of the hut was planned to focus attention on the importance of this building. The work is part of an ongoing project, organized by Littoral Arts to preserve both this building and the Merz Barn in Cumbria.

Go to the project

In December 2010 a team from Factum Arte worked with the restoration team at the Brera Museum to produce a high resolution recording of this important painting while it was in the process of being restored. The painting was recorded in 3D using Factum Arte’s Yabba scanner and also recorded photographically at a resolution of 900 DPI at a scale of 1:1. The data was then stitched together and processed.

Go to the project