Beginning in June 2026, Factum Foundation will undertake a comprehensive three-week digitisation campaign to create the first complete high-resolution digital record of the entire chapel. The project will document the chapel as a unified artistic environment: Caravaggio’s three monumental canvases, the frescoes by Cavaliere d’Arpino, the richly coloured marbles, and the chapel’s architectural and decorative details.
The first high-resolution recording of the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, carried out by Factum Foundation in collaboration with the Pious Establishments of France, June 2026 © SideProject
The Contarelli Chapel: a turning point in Western art
Commissioned in the late 16th century by Cardinal Matthieu Cointrel, the Contarelli Chapel houses three masterpieces by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: The Calling of Saint Matthew, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599–1600), and Saint Matthew and the Angel (1602). Installed in situ in San Luigi dei Francesi, the French national church in Rome, these works mark a decisive moment in the transition from Mannerism to Baroque naturalism.
Caravaggio’s radical use of light and shadow (chiaroscuro), his direct observation of the human body, and his dramatic staging of sacred narratives transformed the language of painting.
Conceived as part of a unified programme, Caravaggio’s canvases reach their full significance within the architectural and spiritual setting of the chapel. Painting, architecture, sculpture, and a masterful understanding of light, proportion, material, and time converge to make the Contarelli Chapel one of the defining achievements of Western art.
A response to increasing visitor pressure
Today, the chapel remains one of the most visited artistic sites in Rome, receiving thousands of visitors each day — at peak times, over 6,000 people daily. This places increasing pressure on the space and raises questions of conservation, visitor access, and the management of large public flows.
The digitisation campaign responds to some of the challenges posed by mass tourism. By creating a comprehensive high-resolution digital archive of the chapel’s current condition, the project introduces a new model for monitoring, research, and long-term preservation, helping custodians better understand and care for the space over time.
Digital recording opens up new possibilities for cultural accessibility, allowing the Chapel to be experienced far beyond Rome — including by those who are unable to visit in person. By making the site’s artistic and historical significance accessible through high-resolution digital records, the project complements the experience of a direct visit to the Chapel, extending its reach to audiences who cannot travel to Rome for economic, geographical, or other reasons. In this way, the beauty and knowledge held within the Chapel become a genuinely shared resource — while also helping to manage visitor numbers sustainably and reduce the environmental impact associated with travel.
The Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi © SideProject
A project rooted in technical innovation, at the service of heritage
For twenty-five years, Factum Foundation, alongside its sister company Factum Arte, has specialised in the development of advanced recording technologies capable of capturing high-resolution 3D and colour data. These recordings reveal hidden textures, subtle tonal harmonies, and the material qualities of painted surfaces.
The digitisation campaign will create the first complete high-resolution digital record of the Contarelli Chapel, documenting its current condition and enabling its study, preservation and dissemination.
The project will employ non-contact, high-resolution recording technologies compliant with the highest conservation standards. The recording will focus on the chapel as a unified artistic environment and will capture:
- Caravaggio’s three paintings
- The frescoed vault by Cavaliere d’Arpino
- Marble surfaces and architectural elements
- The full spatial volume of the chapel
A combination of advanced technologies will be used, including LiDAR 3D scanning, close-range photogrammetry, panoramic composite photography, and the Selene Photometric Stereo System developed by Factum Foundation. Applied to Caravaggio’s paintings, Selene records surface relief and colour at a microscopic level, capturing data at 25-micron spatial resolution and 1:1 scale (1000 dpi).
Together, these methods produce a layered dataset that captures the geometry, colour and surface texture across the chapel—from the overall spatial volume to the minute relief of Caravaggio’s brushwork.
These combined datasets will form a comprehensive digital archive of exceptional value for conservation, research, monitoring, and public dissemination.
Access and dissemination
The creation of a high-resolution digital record also opens new possibilities for access, study, and interpretation. While the chapel remains a site of direct encounter, the data allows its surfaces, spatial relationships, and material complexity to be examined with a level of detail difficult to perceive in situ.
Developed in collaboration with the Pious Establishments of France, future forms of access will ensure that this knowledge can be shared responsibly, without compromising the integrity of the original space and in alignment with the Church’s cultural and institutional mission.
Factum Foundation’s engagement with Caravaggio
This collaboration builds upon an established relationship. In 2009, Factum Foundation, in collaboration with the Pious Establishments of France and Fondazione Giorgio Cini, carried out the high-resolution colour recording of The Calling of Saint Matthew, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599-1600), and Saint. Matthew and the Angel (1602)in the Contarelli Chapel as part of an initiative by the municipality of Caravaggio commemorating the 400th anniversary of the painter’s death.
Since then, Factum Foundation’s engagement with Caravaggio has deepened through the recording of several of his works. In 2014, Factum’s recreation of Caravaggio’s stolen Nativity of Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence was unveiled in the Oratory of San Lorenzo in the heart of Palermo, where the original hung before its theft in 1969. In 2020, Factum Foundation recorded Caravaggio’s Burial of St. Lucy in the Chiesa di Santa Lucia alla Badia, Syracuse, and produced a facsimile from the high-resolution 3D and colour data.
More recently, Factum Foundation played a key role in the study of the Ecce Homo, newly attributed to Caravaggio. Following its rediscovery in 2021, the painting underwent investigation and restoration at the Museo del Prado, Spain. Factum carried out high-resolution recordings of the painting’s surface using the Lucida 3D Scanner and composite colour photography at three critical stages: before, during and after restoration. This unique documentation provided experts with precise data on the painting’s topography and condition, contributing essential evidence to the study of its attribution and conservation history. The resulting dataset forms a detailed “digital passport” of the work, offering an unprecedented record of its state over time.
