MULTI-WAVELENGTHS 3D LASER SCANNING FOR PIGMENT AND STRUCTURAL STUDIES ON THE FRESCOED CEILING <q>THE TRIUMPH OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE</q>

Abstract

The modern 3D digitalization techniques open new scenarios on how to transmit to the next generations the state of health of Cultural Heritage (CH) buildings, paintings, frescos or statues. The final goal of the 3D digitalization is an exact replica of the acquired target, but a standard and unique technique able to digitalize artworks of different size and in different ambient light conditions is still far from being successfully ready for the CH field. Even if both laser scanning and photogrammetry can be considered mature techniques, applied with success in most of the Cultural Heritage study cases, they are limited in terms of colour digitalization and image quality in all the cases where ambient light and big sensor-target distances are crucial factors: differently to standard laser scanners, which collect colour information by the use of a coaxial camera and the distance by an IR laser source, the RGB-ITR (Red, Green and Blue Imaging Topological Radar) scanner, developed in ENEA, is equipped with three different laser sources for the simultaneous colour and distance estimation. The present work shows the results obtained applying the above-mentioned multi-wavelengths laser scanner for collecting a complete high-quality 3D colour model of “The Triumph of Divine Providence” vault, painted by Pietro da Cortona on the ceiling of the noble hall inside Palazzo Barberini in Rome.