Spanish robot brings artworks back to life

Spanish robot brings artworks back to life

In the basement of Madrid's Reina Sofia museum, a giant robot known as 'Pablito' is slowly snapping hundreds of microscopic shots of a painting by Catalan surrealist artist Joan Miro to determine the condition of the work.

The pictures taken by the machine, which uses infrared and ultraviolet photography, will help experts determine the condition of the 1974 oil on canvas painting called "Women, Bird in the Night" in unprecedented detail.

The device lets restorers see cracks, scratches and creases as well underlying preparatory sketches and all subsequent touch-ups that would be otherwise undetectable.

"We can see countless details which we could not see with the naked eye," said Humberto Duran, 47, the restoration computer technician who oversaw the design of the robot.

http://www.thelocal.es/20130724/spanish-robot-brings-artworks-back-to-life