The following sculptures were recorded in high resolution and recreated in Factum’s workshop in Madrid:
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The Young Saint John the Baptist, 1495-96, Hospital de Cardinal Tavera, Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli, Toledo
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Cupid, ca. 1490, The Metropolitan Museum, New York
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The Genius of Victory, 1532–1534, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
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St. Peter, St. Augustin, St. Paul, St. Gregory, 1501-1504, from the Altare Piccolomini, Cathedral of Siena
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Rachel and Leah, 1542-1545, from the Tomb of Pope Julius II, Basilica di San Pietro Vincoli, Rome
Often deeply embedded in the architectural settings for which they were conceived, Michelangelo’s sculptures present unique preservation challenges. The collaboration between Factum and the Statens Museum for Kunst seeks to facilitate a new way of engaging with some of the artist’s works, addressing challenges posed by their original context and condition.
All sculptures were recorded using non-invasive, close-range photogrammetry. In the case of the four saints on the Altare Piccolomini, and the figures of Rachel and Leah from the tomb of Julius II, where access to their backs is severely limited due to their location in niches, some areas of the sculptures were intentionally left with an organic, triangulated surface.
Each sculpture was 3D-printed in resin at a 1:1 scale using SLA printing technologies and CNC milling. All 3D prints were then moulded in silicone and cast in composite marble, a custom mix of resin and marble powder that also integrates marble veining into the casting process. All works were hand-finished to ensure the creation of perfect visual copies of Michelangelo’s masterpieces.
Among the facsimiles made for the exhibition, The Young St. John the Baptist (San Juanito) has been part of an ambitious digital reconstruction project that started in 2019 in collaboration with Casa Ducal de Medinaceli. Michelangelo’s only sculpture in Spain suffered significant damage during the Spanish Civil War. The original fragments, now housed in the Hospital de Tavera in Toledo, were 3D scanned in high resolution. With input from art historians Francesco Caglioti and Matthias Wivel, and aided by a small number of archival photographs, Factum Foundation’s experts digitally reassembled the sculpture before physically rematerialising it. The resulting digital restoration offers a compelling interpretation of the work as it might have appeared before its fragmentation.
A facsimile of the one of Daniele da Volterra’s bronze portraits of Michelangelo was also on display.
Recording Leah © Oscar Parasiego | Factum Foundation
Facsimile of Leah during the finishing stages, with the colour reference © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Aniuska Martin working on the facsimile of Rachel © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
The finished facsimiles of Rachel and Leah, from the tomb of Pope Julius II © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Working on Reality Capture to create the 3D model of Cupid © Oscar Parasiego | Factum Foundation
Detail of Cupid‘s 3D print © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Detail of Cupid after casting © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
The final facsimile of Michelangelo’s Cupid © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Aniuska Martin working on one of the 3D prints © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Montserrat Crespo working on the fine details of the Young St. John the Baptist facsimile © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
3D print (left) and finished (right) facsimile of the Young St John the Baptist © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Raul Candil de-moulding the cast head of The Genius of Victory © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Working on the cast Genius of Victory © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Juan Carlos Arias studying the colour reference of the Genius of Victory © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Marble veining inside the cast © Oscar Parasiego | Factum Foundation
The finished facsimile of Michelangelo’s Genius of Victory © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
3D print of St. Peter and silicone mould of St. Gregory‘s head © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
Hand finish of St. Peter‘s head © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
St. Gregory, St. Augustin, St. Paul, St. Peter © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation
