Three-dimensional modelling of statues: The Minerva of Arezzo

The Minerva of Arezzo is an ancient bronze statue located at the Museo Archeologico in Florence and currently under repair at the Restoration Centre of the Soprintendenza Archeologica of the Tuscany Region. We assembled a complete three-dimensional (3D) digital model of the Minerva before the restoration started. More 3D models will be produced to keep track of the variations that occurred during the restoration process, up to the final acquisition of the form of the restored artwork. The modelling of the the Minerva will be the focal point of an ambitious 'Minerva Project' that involves the integration of data from other sources in a 3D-digital model of the object. Besides this, the project is aimed at showing how 3D techniques can be used to design useful and easily manageable new tools for the diagnostics of archaeological objects. 3D measurements have been realized by means of a high-resolution laser scanner developed at National Institute for Applied Optics (NOA). The instrument is composed of commercial low-cost components in order to be competitive with the very expensive commercial devices. Besides this, our scanner is supported by an efficient and flexible software developed by Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) that supports all the post-processing phases of a 3D scanning session (range data alignment, merge and simplification).