Digitization and Reproduction of Surface: Shedding New Light on Goya’s Black Paintings

Francisco de Goya painted on the walls of his own house one of the most intriguing series in the history of art. Universally known as the Black Paintings (due to their rather dark and disturbing subjects), these mysterious scenes decorated the two main rooms in the Quinta del Sordo, the artist’s residency in the outskirts of Madrid. The property is now demolished. The paintings were removed from the walls and transferred onto canvas in the last third of the nineteenth century, and they can now be seen in its own dedicated space in the Museo del Prado. Goya’s Black Paintings spark admiration as a precedent of new artistic languages, but a great deal remains unanswered about their purpose, significance, and creation method. This chapter presents the most recent attempts to shed a new light onto these unique artworks through innovative applications of digital technology of recording and reproduction. In 2014, the Museo del Prado hired the company Factum Arte to carry out the first 3D digitization of the fourteen Black Paintings, making it possible to visualize and measure their complex surface as never before. The topography of an artwork reveals aspects of the artist’s technique (like the shape of the brushstrokes) and about its historic trajectory (such as the effects of ageing or the various interventions suffered). High-resolution 3D scanning technology (in combination with other non-invasive analysis techniques) helped to see the Black Paintings with enhancing tools. The thorough documentation of the surface opened the door to an in-depth understanding of the painting’s history. Today, 10 years after this pioneer project, new digital techniques bear the potential to change the way we perceive and appreciate Goya’s creations. Based on the 3D and color data recorded at the Museo del Prado, it is possible to produce exact facsimiles, that is, physical replicas of the paintings that restitute all surface qualities of the originals. The research necessary to materialize this initiative can suggest new hypotheses about the meaning of the Black Paintings, which can be experienced (and tested) as a physical reconstruction. A material reproduction of 3D digital information would allow to see Goya’s creative genius in a new light.