3DVisA Resources

3DVisA Index of 3D Projects: Art History - Paintings

A three-dimensional CAD model of The Flagellation (Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino) by Piero della Francesca (1439-78) was created as part of the Alberti Project. The model was used in the examination of the artist’s use and manipulation of geometrical perspective in relation to his theoretical exposition of the subject presented in the treatise, De Prospectiva pingendi of c. 1474. This painting has a curious bipartite composition. It shows Christ as the central figure surrounded by two disparate groups of figures; the scale and proportions of these figures are inconsistent; the source of light and cast shadows are enigmatic.

The model has enabled scholars to scrutinise the composition in the context of earlier research and reconstructions of the painterly space.

Project dates: 1994-1995

Resource status: ?

Alberti's photogrammetric survey drawings produced for this project are available online thanks to a British Academy Grant, 1998.

Contributors: The project was led by Robert Tavernor, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Sources and further details:

[n.n.] (1994), 'Back to the Future', Caddesk, January, pp. 26-30.

Tavernor, R. (1996), 'Casting New Light on The Flagellation by Piero della Francesca', Computers and the History of Art, Vol. 6 (1), pp. 13-19.

Record compiled by Anna Bentkowska-Kafel. Created: 11 September 2006. Last updated: 10 January 2007.

© The Alberti Group and 3DVisA, 2006.