3D digital models are being made for all multiples (more than one cast made from a model) and some marble busts. Scans are used to compare multiples to see if they were made from the same model, to compare sizes, and to assess changes made in the wax inter-model stage. 

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What the data can tell us: Visual comparison of related casts is difficult: even seeing two of the works side by does not yield decisive results, especially if surface treatments differ 3D scanning provides the definitive technical solution to this problem and can help reassess the often-assumed priority of marble over bronze, especially in Bernini’s portraits. Scans are especially helpful in identifying after-casts (a typical explanation for shrinkage) as well as showing the re-working of wax inter-models, a production phase involving another hand, emphasizing the highly individualized steps of production. 

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Initial results: Bassett made and compared scans of Bernini’s Escorial and AGO Crucifixes definitively proving that Bernini reused one part of the former in the latter work in which four other elements were partially remodeled. One of the seven Matilda statuette casts we have scanned is larger, supporting the hypothesis that it was free hand modelled after an existing bronze.