National Gallery, a Veronese and his original chapel in Italy will be brought together through virtual reality

From March 7 to April 3, 2022, the National Gallery in London will offer its visitors a special project that uses the aid of virtual reality to recreate in its environments the original Italian context of a masterpiece held in its collections.

The project is titled Virtual Veronese and will recreate the altar of the church where Paolo Veronese’s Consecration of St. Nicholas was originally located, namely the Basilica of San Benedetto Po. For the first time in more than two hundred years, the London museum venue will bring Veronese’s altarpiece, painted in 1562, back to the chapel for which it was made. Visitors will then have the opportunity to view the painting as it would have been seen in its original church in the second half of the 16th century, through the use of virtual reality viewers.

Thanks to this innovative experience, the public will be able to observe the work in its original location, in the chapel of the church of San Benedetto Po, in the province of Mantua, along with the frescoes that once surrounded it. Accompanying visitors in this experience will be two special guides: curator Rebecca Gill or the historical figure ofAbbot Asola, the one who commissioned Veronese to paint the painting.

Virtual Veronese began as a research and development project, thanks to ScanLAB projects, with the goal of using immersive technologies to tell places and stories.

The Consecration of St. Nicholas was commissioned in 1561 as an altarpiece destined for the abbey church of San Benedetto Po, among the most important Benedictine monasteries in Europe; the work remained here until 1820, when it was removed during the Napoleonic wars.

The digital experience is accompanied by a recording of Gregorian chant, performed by Veneti Cantores. The musical piece is taken from a choral book produced in San Benedetto Po in the 1660s and is therefore contemporary with Veronese’s altarpiece. The music heard is therefore the same music performed by the monks almost 500 years ago.

The immersive experience was developed and produced by Focal Point VR.

Image: Paolo Veronese, Consecration of St. Nicholas, detail (1562; oil on canvas, 286.5 x 175.3 cm; London, National Gallery)

National Gallery, a Veronese and his original chapel in Italy will be brought together through virtual reality

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