MCN 2006 Conference - Pasadena, California

Great conference this year. Hats off to everyone at MCN, including Marla Misunas from SFMOMA who did a fantastic job.

One of the most interesting vendors was Jean Penicaut, CEO of Lumiere Technology. This French company has a very high resolution scanning camera designed specifically for museums. The camera is capable of doing multiple scans of the same painting, each at a different wavelength. By combining just the right selection of scans, they can "see through" varnish and existing paint layers in an extraordinary way.

Although the scanner is quite impressive, the company's business strategy is to own the rights to the digitized images created with their camera. I think this will be a hard sell to museums in the United States.

http://www.lumiere-technology.com