Pinxit has conducted a unique educational experiment with hundreds of students who have been given an immersive experience with the art of Raphael of Urbino. From their usual seat in class, students have access to a perfectly identical replica of the original work, and also to some new technological tools and innovative lesson plans. The ability to see a work of Raphael from close up, to see some microscopic details in the digital image and even to reach out and touch the canvas, all contribute to an up-to-date learning experience focused on a new form of interaction with the painting.
Pinxit is a collaboration between Haltadefinizione and Wonderful Education. Wonderful Education is an Italian company that produces high-tech innovative educational experiences that resonate with audiences. The National Galleries of Ancient Art (le Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica) also participated in the Fornarina project.
The project took place in the second part of the school year and concluded with a live event in Palazzo Barberini in Rome, home of The National Galleries of Ancient Art (le Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica), which holds Raphael’s La Fornarina. Students and teachers from all the schools in the experimental phase took part, along with Luca and Lucia Panini from Haltadefinizione, Damien Lanfrey of Wonderful Education and Alessandro Cosma from the National Galleries of Ancient Art.
During the live streaming event, the participating students presented the work they did in the experimental class, providing a tangible example of its creative and instructional potential.
“We are very proud to have created Pinxit,” declares Luca Panini, CEO of publisher Franco Cosimo Panini Editore. “We have seen the enthusiastic participation of the schools in the pilot program and we look forward to rolling it out across the country this September. Pinxit has an important role in promoting fine art, by allowing it to be seen and studied up close, and even to touch it. This puts the museum back in its main role of sharing the pleasure of fine art and pure esthetic enjoyment.”
“Pinxit is an ambitious project, a new way to see fine art with modern eyes,” says Damien Lanfrey, co-founder with Donatella Solda, of Wonderful Education. “It puts together Wonderful Education’s innovative teaching experience with Haltadefinizione’s technical and artistic expertise. We think that we need a new interdisciplinary creative way to attract young people to the arts. Pinxit isn’t only for teaching art, but also media education, languages, math, computer science and media arts.”
Flaminia Gennari Santori, director of the National Galleries of Ancient Art, states, “The job of a museum consists also in finding new ways to use the institution to broaden the visitor’s knowledge. Pinxit not only delivered a great deal of scientific knowledge about one of our masterpieces, The Fornarina, but it also put the work into closer contact with the public, which leads to reflection and new inquiry.”
Beginning in September Pinxit will provide information about how to participate in the next phases of the project.
Any secondary school and college-level institution in Italy that is interested in studying new and unique teaching methods may participate. There are two objectives: increased use and enjoyment of Italy’s cultural heritage using physical replicas of masterpieces, and the development of new methods of teaching about fine art.
