Wentworth Woodhouse: Latest technology used to restore 18th century marble statue in Yorkshire

The 270-year-old statue of Roman general and politician Germanicus now stands at the foot of the main staircase at Wentworth Woodhouse but for many years was in the Grade I-listed property’s camellia house, which is where it sustained the water damage after the roof failed in the 1970s.

Now its future is being helped with technology from University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and PES Scanning, part of Performance Engineered Solutions (PES), both based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham.

The collaboration came about after Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust decided to restore Germanicus, which was created in the 1750s for the Second Marquess of Rockingham by Italian Filippo Della Valle, whose work adorns Rome’s Trevi Fountain.

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PES created a 3D scan of the statue using reverse-engineering technology and this digital blueprint was used by the AMRC design experts to 3D-print three miniature replicas of the statue.

The trust can now use the 3D scan to monitor any further deterioration and could have an exact copy created if the statue was ever seriously damaged.

It also means that miniature statues of Germanicus could one day line the shelves in the trust’s gift shop to boost fundraising.

Steve Ash, the trust’s digital projects manager, said: “The use of digital technologies at Wentworth Woodhouse is in its early stages but there’s no doubt it will have an important role to play in conservation and entrepreneurialism.”

Nathan Bailey, metrology applications engineer at PES, said: “We provide metrology and 3D scanning services from aerospace to construction and are constantly expanding the areas we work in, so this project with the AMRC and Wentworth Woodhouse was a fantastic opportunity for us.”