Translator: antonella broglia Reviewer: Denise RQ
Let's start with two pictures
taken in the tomb of Tutankhamen
maybe one of the most visited monuments in the world.
The first picture was taken at the time of its discovery in 1922.
The second is a more recent one from 2012.
There's a 90 years-span between them.
And there is something else.
There are more than 3,000 years between them
as one of the pictures was taken in the original tomb
whereas the other one was taken in Madrid,
and represents the facsimile we created in order to preserve the original.
We work on facsimiles.
What is a facsimile?
It is an exact copy of an artwork aimed at preserving the original.
We are beyond negative connotations,
like fakes or false reproductions.
Nothing to do with our work.
We usually create a facsimile
whose purpose is to add value to the original work of art.
Most of the time, we start
by digitally scanning the surface of the object.
Such as this Mappa Mundi at Hereford Cathedral, in England.
A medieval Mappa Mundi.
The aim is to contact-free high-resolution document
the surface of an object,
and provide a 3D-model file which faithfully records
the features of the object at a certain moment in time.
Our interest is to gather data about the object's both surface and texture.
When texture is properly documented,
a lot of data is revealed about the object's biography.
What do we do when the current available technology is not enough?
We develop our own systems.
Lucida 3D scanner was specifically created
to accurately record the texture of works of art
like paintings or low reliefs which may initially seem flat,
but that can provide valuable data on their texture and low reliefs.
Nevertheless, our goal is not to build a visual file or model,
something people usually understand as new technologies.
We go a step further, as we focus
on taking the qualities of those objects back into the material world.
In our job, the gathered raw digital data always returns to the material world.
Every work of art such as sculptures or paintings can be turned in facsimiles.
If we want to create a good facsimile
the ratio color-low reliefs must be the right one.
The photographic color and 3D data
are mapped back into different formats,
preserving all of the qualities of the original.
We will see some examples of this.
What do we do when a work of art isn't to be found in its original context anymore?
For example, "The wedding at Cana",
one of the most important paintings by Veronese.
It was created for The San Giorgio Monastery, in Venice,
but it is no longer there.
It was stolen by Napoleon, moved to Paris,
and in permanent display since then at the Museum of Louvre,
on the same hall as "The Mona Lisa".
It is presented to the public removed from its original context.
Our job was to create an accurate facsimile
that was to replace its original in Venice.
But how do you go about scanning a more than 70 m2 work of art
without removing it from its location?
It was impossible to use any supporting structure
or any additional illumination.
We developed a non-contact, scanning system
mounted on a telescopic mast, which scanned the whole painting
illuminating only those essential areas for each shot.
Additionally, others conventional photography systems were used
and hundreds of color samples were taken.
Once all this data was processed,
a digital impression on canvas was made,
prepared and treated as the original one.
A plain multilayer color printer was used
which printed successive layers with a perfect register,
and the outcome
mixed craft work and digital technology
and that allowed us a richness and complexity very similar to the original.
There was a great expectation at the opening time
to see how Venice will receive a copy.
Not only was the answer very positive but it was also very emotional.
People broke into tears
because, in some way, the work of art was back home
or maybe because the space cycle was complete again, 200 years later.
It might seem a paradox:
the original painting is still in Paris,
but the copy in Venice could appear even more authentic.
What if the public has no access to the work of art?
That is the case of the Bolonia's Hall,
a private hall of the Apostolic Palace, in Vatican City.
It is not open to the public
although it is one of the most interesting halls.
The entire Hall is decorated
according to a sophisticated conceptual artistic program
that displays different views of the city of Bolonia.
Specifically, the south wall maps a plan of the city,
one of the biggest urban reproductions created during the Renaissance.
We combined different systems to be able to document the Hall.
A panoramic photography of the hall,
and we also scanned some parts of the wall in 3D.
Every project is a world in itself.
Once all the data was processed,
the color had to be match-printed on the surface relief,
but due to the irregularities on the wall it was impossible to do so
as they surpassed the maximum height impression.
We then divided the problem into two magnitudes:
a form magnitude to restate the original topography of the wall,
and a texture magnitude reproducing the relief of the painting.
We specifically developed an elastic and flexible skin
on which we could print the color
and then adjusted it, and adhere it to the surface relief.
So, once it was mounted on light aluminium panels
the outcome yielded the expected quality.
Finally, the facsimile was installed at the Bolonia's Museum of History.
What is this project's main difference compared with the previous one?
In the previous one, the facsimile allowed
a painting to be brought back to its original place.
In this case, the facsimile offered for the first time the possibility
for many people to admire a work of art
in an interactive, natural and open way.
One of the most important reasons to work on facsimiles is to protect
monuments or works of art from being damaged by overexposure.
The tomb of Tutankhamen,
one of the most popular monuments in the Valley of the Kings
has thousands of visitors every day.
It has been visited by millions since it was discovered.
Its popularity is most likely causing this site to deteriorate.
The humidity generated by the respiration and transpiration
of thousands of visitors,
together with some rather unfortunate past restorations
contributes to the paint to literally peel off its walls.
In this case, the facsimile is the right approach to an immediate necessity,
that of preserving and protecting a monument of such enormous value.
The four walls and the sarcophagus in the burial chamber were 3D scanned
and then, the high resolution color and 3D data was digitized
on a scale never made before.
This digitally obtained data is very important
because it allows us to monitor the state of the tomb.
It is a digital record,
a permanent representation,
of the state of the tomb at the time of the scanning.
In this particular case, in 2009.
For this project we developed a system which allowed
the relief to be reproduced
on glass fiber reinforced light resin panels.
A similar system was used for the color:
an elastic skin that once the color was printed,
could be manually adhered to the surface relief.
Once the adhesive has cured through a vacuum bag,
the skin becomes harder.
Although the used material is completely different from that of the original,
if observed under the same light and from the same angle
it is practically identical.
From the beginning the idea was to display
the facsimile back in Egypt.
Five years into the project,
the right time to make it possible
was when at the beginning of 2014, an area was selected
at the entrance to the Valley of the Kings in Luxor,
for the the building of an underground space
where the facsimile would be permanently displayed.
Today, tourists traveling to Luxor have the unique possibility
of contemplating both tombs, the original and the facsimile
and to compare them against each other.
That is, in our opinion, a decisive step towards sustainable tourism,
because a facsimile allows an effective division
between contemplation and preservation.
To conclude,
beyond the technical challenge of creating a copy,
our job seeks to draw attention on the importance and urgency
to digitally document our artistic and cultural heritage
in order to pass it down to the next generations
as unchanged as possible.
For this reason, it is essential to understand that originality
is a process rather than a strict state of things.
Many thanks.
(Applause)