This is a digital visualization of an over-life-size statue of Caligula (c.40 CE) in the possession of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. The work of a team of researchers led by Professor Bernard Frischer, it offers a speculative restoration of the possible looks of the statue in its original state. Such digital visualizations, and digital prints thereof, are increasingly becoming a standard feature at museums and in restoration research; they are non-invasive, reversible, and easily manipulable. But what is it that we are meant to learn from our interactions with them? This is the question I ask in an essay published in the journal Synthese.
Image source: http://www.digitalsculpture.org/caligula/index_sketchfab_praetexta.html
