An Operational Critics into Pictorial Art History through its Digital Deconstrucion
Filippo Fanciotti – Doctoral Research
Within the current debate on the autonomy of disciplinary tools following the “second digital turn” and the incursion of AI into image production, this research aims to restore depicted architecture (Architectura Depicta) to its cultural dignity as a visual text, conveying a plurality of meanings and reaffirming the fundamental role of figuration as an instrument of knowledge and thought.
In this context, the objective is to define a method for analyzing architectural-themed paintings, particularly those depicting domestic space, adopting not the tools of the art historian, but those of the architect, thus shifting the focus from the construction of images to the built world represented within them. This world—whether real, virtual, or ideal—bears witness to a material culture and an architectural thought. The research aims to explore these contexts by decoding the narrative filters adopted by artists.
The true object of the research is the definition of an operational methodology capable of extracting quantitative ‘hidden’ data from a secondary source (the painting) and transferring it into a critical reconstruction—a ‘digital double’—a three-dimensional representation of depicted architecture (Architectura Redepicta).
Based on the theoretical premise that historical knowledge serves a design-oriented purpose—La storia come pensiero e azione—the ultimate goal of this work is to support education, research, and, ultimately, architectural design, providing both a theoretical framework and a practical methodology.