From capture to light: an integrated process for the Three-dimensional acquisition of paintings in view of their re-illumination

The replication of ancient paintings involves significant challenges, especially when considering that modern viewing conditions differ greatly from their original settings. This contribution presents the results of a digital acquisition campaign focusing on three historically significant paintings: two works by Ludovico Mazzolino from Le Gallerie degli Uffizi and Titian’s “Portrait of Alfonso I d’Este” from Palazzo Pitti in Florence. As part of the DarkScape Experience (DSE) research project, this work aims to digitally reconstruct the paintings to relocate them in a virtual representation of their context at Villa d’Este, in Tivoli, to simulate original viewing conditions regarding daytime and nighttime illumination as documented in historical sources. The integrated process presented produced three-dimensional models replicating the visual aspects, the characteristics, and the materials of the real artworks, through multilayered textures and 3D meshes including both painted wood panels or canvases and their frames.