PROVENANCE
Step out of the textbook and into the masterpiece
Provenance is an immersive virtual reality experience built from high-resolution photogrammetry scans of the Italian Renaissance's most important painted environments. Each space is reconstructed at 1:1 scale, not as a scholastic exercise or an artist's impression, but as a faithful, inhabitable environment.
Walk the nave of Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel. Stand eye-to-eye with Masaccio's figures in the Brancacci Chapel. Study Piero della Francesca's geometry at arm's length in Arezzo. Turn slowly inside the panoramic civic allegories of Siena's Sala della Pace. These are not reproductions on a screen.
These are the spaces themselves, rebuilt for a new kind of visit.
Four environments, illustrating the evolution of Renaissance painting
Scrovegni Chapel
Padova, Italy (~1300-05).
Giotto di Bondone's narrative fresco cycle, the work that redefined Western painting, fills every surface of this intimate barrel-vaulted chapel.
Sala della Pace
Siena, Italy (1338-39).
Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Allegory of Good and Bad Government wraps around the room: a panoramic civic vision that was designed to be experienced as an environment.
Brancacci Chapel
Florence, Italy (~1424-28).
Masaccio and Masolino's revolutionary frescoes mark the birth of Renaissance naturalism. The scenes convey emotion and innovative pictorial narrative construction.
Chapel of the True Cross Arezzo, Italy (1452-66).
Piero della Francesca's ‘Legend of the True Cross’ cycle is full of geometric precision, luminous color, and a spatial clarity that rewards sustained looking.
The Experience
High Fidelity
Each environment is built from 3D scans of the original space. The brushstrokes, surface details, and cracks in the plaster are all captured and presented at a resolution and proximity that even an in-person visit cannot offer. Stand inches from a fresco that a velvet rope or thirty feet of elevation would otherwise keep out of reach.
Spatial Audio
Educational and informational narration is positioned in 3D space beside the works it describes. Approach a point of interest and hear its story unfold from the fresco itself.
Art-historical Context
Floating text panels near points of interest provide art-historical context, iconographic analysis, and the nuanced background on patrons, artists, and techniques. Toggle them on for guided study or off for uninterrupted contemplation.
Your Pace, Your Path
There is no set route and no time limit. Teleport freely through each fully 3D environment. A wrist-mounted menu lets you control narration, panel visibility, text size, and more. The experience adapts to you: whether you are an art history educator, student, or an experienced VR user.
