Work by the Italian Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio demonstrates that humanity had evolved past the flat and emotionless artwork of the medieval era and into one of depth and passion. And possibly no piece does that more than his 1607 painting, Flagellation of Christ, which adds a physicality to Piero della Francesca’s own 15th century version, almost two hundred years earlier, that almost makes you feel as though you could reach out and touch the figures. And no one seems to better understand this than MakersForArt, a spin-off of Italy’s MonzaMakers that has just 3D printed a full-color version of the painting for the blind.
In a post on the 3DP Business Directory, the MakersForArt group pontificates on the work of Caravaggio and their process for truly bringing it into the third dimension with ColorJet Printing technology from 3D Systems. With the goal of “[removing] physical barriers that make [the painting inaccessible] to the blind and visually impaired”, the group began with a high-resolution image of the painting, before studying it and modeling a 3D version. The study of Caravaggio’s work was crucial to the end result, as the Italian artist was unique in his use of light and shadow.
The MakersForArt team explains, “Let’s start from the light and shadow play. Caravaggio used to place a lantern near the model he wanted to depict, plunged into darkness (indeed, the creation of ‘raking light’): this way it would have been easier to portray on the canvas the desired effect. That is to give a certain degree of three-dimensionality to the subjects represented, emphasized by Caravaggio’s distinctive lighting that confers a sense of volume to the bodies, which seem to ‘come out’ of the scene.” They add, “Thanks to 3D printing, they don’t just “seem” but they do really come out. And if, as already mentioned, the other main feature of Caravaggio’s works is realism, how could the Flagellation of Christ be more real, if not by turning it into a 3D-printed painting?”
When it comes to the parts of the painting that are hidden in shadow, such as the crucifix, those parts are “barely perceivable to the touch” in order for the visually impaired to have a similar depth experience as those that might look at Caravaggio’s painting. They continue, “Likewise, Christ’s right leg, that on the canvas appears in dim-light and in middleground with only the instep illuminated, will appear as such to the touch, as well: who touches it will understand that it is behind the left leg, and the instep of the right foot will be more protruding than the other parts of that foot, which, instead are hidden by the shadows.
Once the 3D modeler was able to reproduce the painting, a scan of the painting was applied in order to add the texture of the brush strokes and other fine details. Not only would this make the print valuable to the visually impaired, but the sighted would also be able to enjoy the look of the object. And, now that it is complete, the work is on display at the Reggia di Monza, alongside the original, introducing both a new depth to the world of painting, as Caravaggio did in the 17th Century, and a new depth to our typically able-minded culture, by providing the visually impaired access to such rich and important works as the Flagellation of Christ.
