A tactile 3-D reproduction of Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes means the visually challenged can now trace the lines of the masterpiece in Rome.
Caravaggio masterpiece Judith Beheading Holofernes has turned tactile. Those with visual impairments can now enjoy the work in Rome’s National Gallery of Ancient Art at Palazzo Barberini.
Visually challenged visitors can now trace the lines of the artist’s work with their fingertips thanks to an innovative 3-D reproduction. It was produced by a Blender programme from a photo by the Architalab studio.
The studio has already carried out similar projects for masterpieces. These included museums such as the Capitoline Museums, and the Galleria Nazionale.
The new show is “Tactile Emotions: Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio, The Fingertips Tell Their Tale”.
Judith Beheading Holofernes
Judith Beheading Holofernes is a painting of the biblical episode by Caravaggio, painted in c. 1598-1599 or 160. It depicts the widow Judith decapitating the Assyrian general Holofernes in his tent after he passed out drunk. All in order to save the city of Betulia.
The painting was rediscovered in 1950. It is part of the collection of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Rome.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life.
During the final four years of his life he moved between Naples, Malta, and Sicily until his death.
Caravaggio employed close physical observation with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro. He made the technique a dominant stylistic element, transfixing subjects in bright shafts of light and darkening shadows. Caravaggio’s works often featured violent struggles, torture, and death.
