Pintoricchio Magnified: An Immersive Conservation Experience

Pintoricchio Magnified transforms the conservation of a Renaissance painting into an immersive, interactive experience that allows visitors to explore the hidden layers of an artwork using their movement. The experience was developed around a simple question: How can visitors experience the conservation of an artwork as an exploratory process that could go beyond traditional interpretation? Pintoricchio’s Virgin and Child presented a rare opportunity to answer that question.

Hidden beneath layers of early 20th-century restoration and conservation treatments, the original paint layers were revealed through meticulous treatment in the CMA’s Painting Conservation Lab. Through technical imaging, analysis, and careful treatment, conservators were able to uncover information that would typically be invisible to visitors. Pintoricchio Magnified makes that behind-the-scenes work tangible.

Installed within a traditional gallery within the Medieval galleries, where digital technology is rarely utilized, the experience invites visitors to explore the conservation story interactively. A 10-by-10-foot immersive display responds to visitors’ movements in real time. Using computer vision, the system tracks visitors’ position and dynamically adjusts the content on the display. As visitors move through the space, they can study specific areas of the painting, as if viewing it through a microscope. Visitors can toggle between before-and-after inpainting and reveal the conservation process step by step. Rather than relying on touchscreens or fast-paced interaction, the design encourages slow looking. The system adjusts subtly to a visitor’s position, supporting close observation and deeper engagement with the painting’s materials and structure. The experience concludes with a 3D rotation of the painting, allowing visitors to examine the back of the painting and its cradle, the structural feature that prompted CT scanning and revealed insights into the painting’s internal structure.

An external evaluation of Pintoricchio Magnified: An Immersive Conservation Experience, conducted through interviews and observations of over 100 visitors, demonstrates the impact of its interactive digital design on visitors’ engagement with and understanding of the painting’s conservation. Visitors who activated the experience spent over three times as long in the exhibition as those who did not, with nearly 60% of visitors engaging with the display. Those who engaged were more likely to discuss the content, examine the back of the artwork, and identify a conservation message, with most attributing their understanding directly to the interactive. Nearly 40% reported that the experience greatly enhanced their time in the gallery.

Rather than relying on touchscreens, the innovation of Pintoricchio Magnified lies in its use of computer vision to make visitors’ movement part of the conservation story. By combining immersive digital storytelling, responsive technology, and conservation imaging, this experience offers a new way to surface behind-the-scenes museum work while making complex conservation processes visible and engaging for a broad public audience.