For now, though, art lovers must find satisfaction in the “Nativity” reproduction placed in the space once reserved for Caravaggio’s painting in Palermo’s Oratory of San Lorenzo. Until 2015, the spot featured an enlarged photo of the masterpiece, according to Lonely Planet.
The TV broadcaster Sky spearheaded the project and hired Factum Arte to produce the piece, said the Guardian. The company has worked on other similar projects, and once even made a duplicate of King Tutankhamun’s tomb installed close to the original in Egypt.
The replica used existing photographs of the painting, took digital scans of them and employed a team of restorers to create the new piece. The work provided many challenges, especially since few images of the work remained. One slide, taken by photographer Enzo Brai, only included a portion of the canvas. Still, the group could see the work’s brush marks. They also examined the artist’s three paintings in Rome’s Church of San Luigi dei Francesi for hints on the hues Caravaggio used since some think the works were produced during the same period as “Nativity.”
“We are not bringing back the original, but a facsimile. However it is one that will look very similar to the original,” said Roberto Pisoni, the head of the Sky Arts production hub, to the “Guardian.”
