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The Getty Foundation has awarded $230,000 through its digital art history initiative to The University of Exeter, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge and the University of Toronto, to construct a layered and interactive view of the art and architecture of Renaissance Florence. The project will integrate elements of three existing platforms: a 3D modeling project; a GPS-enabled mobile application; and a project that provides access to historic census data through a GIS platform based on the 1584 Buonsignori map of Florence.
This new resource will open up interpretive possibilities for the multitude of Florentine artworks dispersed in museum and gallery collections worldwide and represent the artworks in their digitally reconstructed original settings. The platform will highlight important buildings that have been demolished or altered and recreate lost spatial and architectural environments for displaced artworks. A “time-slide” feature will display the urban landscape at different moments in time. Additionally, a mobile augmented reality app with GPS capability will allow users to examine these reconstructions in situ and permit researchers to annotate the platform’s 3D models while exploring contemporary Florence on foot.
