Understanding, interpreting, and shaping a dialogue between drawing and digital modelling. The case study of Donatello's Pulpit

Donatello’s pulpit is a sophisticated architectural work that represents an important historical and religious symbol for the city of Prato, as a stage in the Ostension of the Sacra Cintola ceremony. The original parapet is in the Museum of the Opera del Duomo, while a copy is placed on the main facade of Santo Stefano Church. On the occasion of the exhibition 'Donatello, the Renaissance’, two of the original pulpit tiles have been removed for display in other museums. Documentation actions were therefore planned to digitally reproduce the artwork and create virtual and 3D-printed products to replace the temporarily missing tiles. This process was an opportunity to evaluate the relationship between the artwork and its reproductions, as well as to understand the value of the digital model as a critical reinterpretation of the complexity of the real artwork. In this sense, the article aims to describe the dialogue between different databases and 3D models obtained with reality-based and image-based tools applied to Donatello's pulpit.