---------- Forwarded Message ----------

From:   Edmund Southworth, 100125,2432
TO:     Roman archaeology list, INTERNET:[log in to unmask]
DATE:   09/01/96 17:11

RE:     Copy of: European Sculpture Network Project

Dear colleagues

I am currently talking to a number of colleagues in the UK and Europe about
establishing a network of museums and universities in order to exchange
information about classical sculpture in electronic form. I have been using
computers in Liverpool Museum for some years to manage the Ince Blundell
collection and this now includes handling images as well as data. Liverpool
Museum is now establishing the infrastructure to make such information available
to the public.

Whilst the starting point would be a conventional image database Liverpool is
developing its resources for sculpture conservation and now has one of the
best-equipped facilities in the country. The ability to integrate academic
databases with conservation information would be a natural extension.

The European Union will shortly be calling for proposals under the RAPHAEL
programme and it seems to me that this project would be suitable. It has already
been discussed with DG X in Brussels. My next step is to assemble a group of
interested parties and to see how we can form a working partnership in the next
few weeks. I have to go to a colloquium on classical sculpture in Dusseldorf
early in February and I want to have a draft project design ready by then.

Obviously such a network could be extended world-wide given the right resources
and bandwidth!

The VENUS Project
(Virtual European Network for Understanding Sculpture)

Background
Britain holds the largest collection of Roman Classical Sculpture outside Italy.
This mostly resulted from systematic collecting by young British aristocrats on
the "Grand Tour" through Europe in the 18th century. Whilst some magnificant
collections remain intact in their original settings such as Holkham Hall and
Petworth House, others have been dispersed through sale and their settings
destroyed. The importance of private sculpture collections to scholarship was
first realised by a German scholar, Adolf Michaelis, who toured Britain and
published "Ancient Marbles in Great Britain" in 1884. That publication is still
a major resource and various attempts to update it have been made, most notably
by the Forschungsarchiv fur Antikeplastik in Cologne. A number of catalogues of
individual collections have been published and a number of photographic surveys
have been made in Britain. The archive is purely in manual form and, whilst
computerisation is being developed, it is not available electronically.

Project Summary
a. To convert the original Michaelis publication to database form
b. To collate images associated with the items listed in Michaelis
c. To confirm the current locations of sculpture listed and update the text
d. To make this information available electronically through a network of linked
organisations initially in Europe
e. To develop and assemble additional resources for the study of classical
sculpture and make them available electronically
f. To develop tools for the remote study of sculpture.
g. To make the network available world-wide

Outputs
1. Direct access to image and text database to partners
2. Direct access to image and text databases to academic and related
institutions across Europe
3. Protection of Common European Heritage by listing locations of material still
in original collections.
4. Public access to subsets of databases and associated materials through
terminals in museum galleries and resource areas.
5. Improved physical condition of Common European Heritage by inclusion of
Conservation information and best practice. Development of interactive remote
examination of sculpture. Linking experts and objects.
6. Creation of resource of major significant for the study of taste in the 18th
century in Europe

Innovations
Whilst the development of on-line access to photographic image databases is not
innovative, this would be the first one of its type in Europe devoted to
classical sculpture. Sculpture is uniquely three-dimensional and new tools need
to be developed to allow the recording of material using conventional video or
3-D laser scanning. Broadband networks now allow for high resolution video-links
which allow experts to study material remotely. Medical applications are being
developed which have particular potential for sculpture. The project proposes to
make these publicly available in major UK national museums such as Liverpool
Museum and the British Museum.

Comments on this draft note gratefully received. I would like to hear from
possible collaborators, initially within the EU because of the funding
possibilities, but worldwide for subsequent phases.

Edmund Southworth
Curator of Archaeology and Ethnology
Liverpool Museum
William Brown St.
Liverpool L3 8EN
Tel: 0151 478 2207
Fax: 0151 478 4390
email: [log in to unmask]