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Team brings kings tomb to life |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Monday, 06 September 2004 |
Well-crafted replica fools visitors
By Ed Will
Denver Post Staff Writer
Digital technology teamed with an ancient artistic process has created a nearly identical, life-size reproduction of the tomb of King Thutmose III as the centerpiece of the largest Egyptian exhibit to visit the United States.
The replica is so exact that some people who have visited the real thing are fooled, said Piers Wardle, a London-based employee of Factum Arte, a Spanish company specializing in digital reproductions.
"People who actually have been to the tomb have been under the impression we have taken it apart, which of course would be completely impossible, because it is solid rock," Wardle said.
It is part of "The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt," which opens today and runs through Jan. 23 at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Another testament to the talents of the artists and artisans who made the replica came when the exhibit arrived at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Kimbell's director was sure one of the most important wall panels had been damaged in transit. He based his belief on a photograph of the original scene, which depicts Thutmose III's stepmother Queen Hatshepsut being suckled by a tree.
Much to Wardle's relief, no harm had come to the panel. "Actually, the damage is really in the tomb, because the guides go in and say, 'This is Hatshepsut' and whack it with a stick," he said.
Such exacting accuracy springs from a combination of modern and ancient technology.
The Egyptians tunneled into solid rock and carved out the tombs. "Then from the solid rock, they went back with plaster, animal hide, glue and the paint," Wardle said.
Factum Arte workers spent three weeks in Thutmose's tomb, measuring, photographing, and scanning hieroglyphs and drawings that guided the pharaoh to the afterlife.
They used a computer scanner similar to the common flatbed ones but much larger. Some areas were captured by ultra-high-resolution digital cameras.
Building the replica was the next step.
Modern materials were used to create the tomb's framework. Then about 120 plaster panels were fabricated; the largest are 9 feet by 9 feet and weigh about 100 pounds.
Workers covered the panels with animal hide, glue or gesso, on which a computer printed the hieroglyphs and drawings.
"It (the printer) is very, very like a giant version of a desktop bubble jet printer," Wardle said. "We printed in pigment, so to get as close as possible to the original. And there were some artists who painted things, kind of fine-tuned it."
The project took about five months to complete.
"The most difficult part was digitally printing on a solid, curved three-dimensional surface," Wardle said. "That had never been done before. Basically, your printer had to be custom built. That took quite a bit of engineering and time."
Setting up the tomb in Denver was a two-week job.
"The great thing about this is it broadens the access for people," said Frances Kruger, a senior exhibit developer at the museum. "Not just anybody can get into Thutmose III's tomb. So this way all of us can."
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~78~2376753,00.html |
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