WORLD CULTURE
NEW ART DISCOVERIES
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Virtual Imaging and the Florentine Pieta
For centuries scholars have wondered why Michelangelo smashed his Pieta, intended as the sculptural decoration of his own tomb. Recently, IBM and J. Wasserman, a Renaissance scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, have created a virtual mapping of the Pieta in order to understand better the vandalism done to the work by its creator. The virtual reality image was executed three dimensionally, so you can examine it in the round. Also, you can zoom in for a closer look at the chiseling and detail. A hot debate has developed about whether or not it is in the best interest of the art community to study art with virtual imaging. Scholars argue that it is artificial because it is not true to life. Until the art community can determine how to harness this new technology, results will be controversial. Art Department. George Mason Univ.