Objects in 3D
17 OBJECTS ONLINE IN 3D
DISCOVER OBJECTS FROM THE PRINCELY COLLECTIONS IN 3D
Over the past few years, the digitalization of objects has become an increasingly important tool for museums and collections. Digital technologies allow people from all over the world to examine objects online, obviating the need for the viewer to be physically present. The website of the Princely Collections offers not only high-resolution photographs with a zoom function that allows them to be explored in minute detail, but also images of a number of outstanding works that have been photogrammetrically mapped and translated into detailed photorealistic 3D models.
On the occasion of the temporary exhibition held in March 2022 entitled “THE CONSTANT PRINCE – Joseph Wenzel and His Art”, 3D models of three objects from the Princely Collections, including the Golden Carriage, were created. Now thirteen digital replicas of bronze sculptures have been additionally realized for this year’s temporary exhibition “CAST FOR ETERNITY. The Bronzes of the Princes of Liechtenstein” so that they too can be examined from all sides in digital space. Around 85,000 photographic images were taken as a basis for the complex process of creating these models.
Among the bronze sculptures available online as three-dimensional models are works by Antico, Giambologna, Adrian de Fries and Pietro Tacca as well as the “Anima Dannata” by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi chosen as the title image for this year’s exhibition.
During the photogrammetric mapping of the artworks particular attention was paid to the detailed realization of material qualities. The reflections inherent in the base material of bronze constituted a special challenge; this was achieved by combining several focal series from each camera position followed by painstaking post-processing.
The Equestrian Statuette of Ferdinando I de’ Medici (1549–1609) is one of the most outstanding sculptures in the Princely Collections. Around 1600 Ferdinando I de’ Medici commissioned Giambologna to make an equestrian statue of himself which has stood on the Piazza della SS. Annunziata in Florence since 1608. The work in the Princely Collections is the original model for this statue.
The photorealistic 3D model gives you the opportunity of examining the smallest details of the chasing. See if you can find Giambologna’s engraved signature!
Giambologna (1529–1608), Equestrian Statuette of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici (1549–1609), c. 1600
The fully gilded Bust of Marcus Aurelius shows the emperor, who ruled in the second half of the second century, as a young man. He is bearded, clad in tunic and cuirass, and draped from his shoulders is a cloak fastened on the right with a rosette-shaped clasp. Antico represents the face graphically, marking eyes, pupils, eyebrows and beard with deep incisions. The full gilding of the bust may have been inspired by the gilding on the famous equestrian statue of the ruler in Rome that was still evident in the fifteenth century.
Examine the elaborately worked details of the drapery and hair on the 3D model and have a look inside this cast bronze!
Pier Jacopo Alari-Bonacolsi, called Antico (um 1455–1528), Bust of Marcus Aurelius, c. 1500
First discovered in 2004, this portrait head, which has meanwhile entered the Princely Collections, was identified as the Bust of Prince Joseph Wenzel I von Liechtenstein (1696–1772).
Described by admirers as ‘veracious, contemporary and timeless’, Messerschmidt’s creations trod a new path in Austrian portrait sculpture. Joseph Wenzel gazes confidently ahead, the visible part of his torso naked in the fashion of antiquity, rendered in a way that detaches its subject from any context.
The 3D model offers the opportunity of seeing the exceptional artistic quality and consummate
craftsmanship of this important early neoclassical portrait head on your screen.
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783), Bust of Prince Joseph Wenzel I von Liechtenstein (1696–1772), 1773/74
The Golden Carriage of Prince Joseph Wenzel I von Liechtenstein is one of the rare surviving examples of eighteenth-century Parisian coach-building. A large number of documents in the Princely Archives provide information about its construction and use. Contemporary accounts and depictions of the official events at which it was used attest to its importance.
Take a look underneath the carriage, step inside and examine decorative details from close up – many of which wouldn’t be visible even if you were standing next to it!
François Boucher (1703–1770), Nicolas Pineau (1684–1754), The Golden Carriage of Prince Joseph Wenzel von Liechtenstein, 1738
