“Ecce Homo” by Antonello da Messina, from non-invasive investigations to data fusion and dissemination

Scientific investigations of artworks are crucial in terms of preservation since they provide a measurable evaluation of the materials and the state of conservation. This is the case of Antonello da Messina’s painting “Ecce Homo”: its delicate state of conservation, with the need for constant monitoring, required a broad and in-depth diagnostic campaign to support the restorers. The project was carried out entirely in situ using non-invasive cutting-edge techniques and proposes a multimodal and data-centric approach, integrating 3D and 2D methodologies. The surface irregularities and the support were analysed with a structured-light 3D scanner and X-ray tomography. The painting materials were investigated with X-ray fluorescence scanning (MA-XRF) and reflectance hyperspectral imaging (HSI). Primarily, the data were jointly used for a scientific scope and provided new knowledge of the painting in terms of materials and painting techniques. In addition, two web-based interactive platforms were developed: one to provide restorers and experts with a new perspective of the hidden geometries of the painting, and the other targeted at the general public for dissemination purposes. The results of the Ecce Homo scientific analysis were exhibited, using a touch-screen interface, and developed for different user levels, from adults to kids.

História em quadrinhos e História da Arte: diálogos temáticos e metodológicos

O artigo discute as relações entre a arte das Histórias em quadrinhos (HQs) e a disciplina acadêmica História da Arte, destacando os modos através dos quais os quadrinistas se apropriam de tópicos usuais na escrita da História da Arte, como a biografia dos artistas, a reconstituição de obras perdidas, as técnicas de produção artística etc. Para tanto, apresenta um panorama da produção contemporânea de HQs que dialoga com a História da Arte e se detém em um estudo de caso específico: o álbum La vision de Bacchus (2014), do quadrinista francês Jean Dytar, que narra a passagem do pintor Antonello da Messina por Veneza entre 1475 e 1476. Palavras-chave: História em quadrinhos; História da Arte; diálogos disciplinares.

Art is Messianicity: Radical Illustration in the Face of God — Romeo Castellucci and Antonello da Messina

Messianicity is not. Art is. Derrida, however, was not into pictures; his relationship with art remained in the quasi-transcendental mode of frames. Romeo Castellucci's use of a painting by Antonello da Messina exposes the Derridean non-messianism through art's power to illustrate – a mode abandoned by Derrida in the Heidegger-Schapiro debate on Van Gogh. In Castellucci, on the contrary, art illustrates what ‘messianicity’ is unable to illustrate and thus is bound to deny even in the negative.