An Innovative Aided Virtual Approach to the Recomposition of Fragments

The recomposition of fragments is a challenging task that must exploit all the available information about fragments and the whole skill of human operators. A new approach to the recomposition of fragmented artworks is presented. It has being developed working on the problem of recomposing the St. Matthew fresco, painted by Cimabue in the Upper Church of St. Francis in Assisi, which broke into more than 140.000 fragments during the earthquake in September 1997. This innovative approach avoids any risk of damages due to the long manipulation of real fragments substituting digital images to physical fragments. The system supports the interaction of the operators with these images through suitably designed tools. Its client-server architecture allows the physical laboratory located in Assisi to be spread on a geographical base: several operators can work in a synchronized and cooperative way on the same project from any location where a properly configured workstation and a low-speed Internet connection are available. The restorers of the Central Institute for Restoration proved the system and showed a strong interest in this new recomposition modality.