Reverse Engineering and Digital Imaging: Early Modern Venetian Lacquer From Cultural Heritage to Material Culture

Building on the object assessments undertaken in October 2025, a team from University of Warwick returned to Venice in January 2026 to carry out detailed scanning and data capture for the EUTOPIA project "Reverse Engineering and Digital Imaging: Early Modern Venetian Lacquer From Cultural Heritage to Material Culture".

During a two-day visit to Ca’ Rezzonico museum, the team captured high-resolution 3D scan data of selected eighteenth-century Venetian lacquered furniture objects, recording surface detail down to ~35 microns and producing photo-realistic textured models to support in-depth analysis of historic lacquer techniques. Photogrammetry will also be utilised to model museum rooms for the creation of VR/AR environments to aid visualisation, presentation and interpretation of the data.

The resulting datasets will be processed and prepared for analysis by academics and students involved in the project, with methods and initial findings shared through a seminar and online event in May 2026. The project will conclude in Autumn 2026 with an in-person research, learning and dissemination week in Venice.

Project team: UNIVE - Cupperi, De Rosa, Izzo, Rastelli | UW - Ajmar, Tagliaferro, Williams | UL - Klemenčič, Novak Klemenčič. In collaboration with Venice’s Istituto Veneto per i Beni Culturali and Fondazione Musei Civici Veneziani MUVE

For more information on the Reverse Engineering and Digital Imaging: Early Modern Venetian Lacquer From Cultural Heritage to Material Culture EUTOPIA Connected Learning Community click here.

To learn more about Warwick's involvement in the EUTOPIA Connected (Learning) Communities, click here