Media Este

Virtual reconstruction of the Galleria Estense of Modena

A click is all it takes to open up the wonders of a historic art collection. Part of the town celebrations for the fifth centenary of Modena as the capital of the Estense ducat, the project consists of a virtual reconstruction of the famous Galleria Estense on CD-ROM.

The project is particularly interesting and innovative insofar as its ‘virtualness’ does not simply consist in the fact that the works may be viewed using a PC, but also because it reconstructs that which today is no longer there to be seen, or rather the art collection of the Dukes of Este at the height of its glory around 1750, when the Court was famous right across Europe. The greatest masterpieces of the gallery (canvases by Titian, Tintoretto, Correggio, Parmigianino, Veronese, Guido Reni as well as the Carracci brothers) were sold a number of years later and are now to be found in various museums around the world, while others were destroyed during the Second World War.

The visitor is thus presented with a fascinating journey: to the sound of music specially composed for the Estense Court, and with the help of a voiceover, it is possible to admire the paintings through the images of the rooms of the Palazzo Ducale, looking just as they would have looked in 1744, for the paintings are positioned on the walls of each room, exactly where they were placed according to the documentary evidence of the day.

The CD-ROM produced thanks to the collaboration with the most prestigious museums of Europe, was then distributed to schools and art galleries.

Application Date

1998

Funding Body

European Commission - Directorate-General X – Information, Communication, Culture, Audiovisual

Programme

Support for cultural development schemes

Project Leader 

Artistic and Historical Heritage Superintendence of Modena & Reggio Emilia (Italy)

Partners

Austria: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
France: Musée du Louvre - Département des Arts Graphiques
Germany:Staatliche Kunstammlungen Dresden - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
Italy: City of Modena