Original painting, overlaid for comparison

The Calling of Saint Matthew

Caravaggio, 1599–1600 · 322 × 340 cm · Contarelli Chapel, Rome. Rebuilt in metres from the canvas as if it were a photograph. All paintings

Walk: drag to look, W A S D to move, Q E for height, Shift to run.

Rendering

Fast preview Path traced

Path tracing gathers light bounces over time. Samples: 0

Bounces4

Light

Azimuth Elevation Intensity Softness Window glow Exposure Fill (preview) Show light position

Check against the painting

At Painter's eye the render sits exactly under the original. Fade it in to see where the model and canvas agree.

Overlay Difference blend Show where fingers point

Floor grid (0.5 m) Measure: click two points

How it was measured

Canvas	340 × 322 cm
Reference scale	0.266 cm / px
Horizon	row 513 of 1197
Focal length	1110 px
Viewing distance	2.95 m
Eye height	1.52 m
Field of view	60° × 56°
Depth of a floor point	f · h / (row − horizon)

The focal length comes from the distance point of the open shutter, which swings at 45° and whose edges converge at column 1763. Eye height and scale come from the bare feet of the standing figures on the floor plane.

Sanity checks

Nothing below was fitted. These are heights the model returns for objects whose real size is familiar.

Stool seat	0.51 m
Table top	0.69–0.74 m
Standing eye height	1.63 m
Seated eye height	1.22 m
Standing figure	1.70 m
Shutter width	0.56 m
Window opening	0.87 × 1.43 m
Window sill height	1.87 m

Confidence

Measured Figure positions on the floor, table, stool, window and shutter, all solved from pixels and the ground plane.

Inferred Back wall depth (3.8 m), left wall, and the light direction (upper right and in front, from face shading and the shutter shadow).

Invented Hidden bodies, rear sides of figures, ceiling, floor extent and the open right side of the room.

Open question. The dark wedge cutting across the wall at upper right cannot be produced by a single physical light without also shadowing Christ and Peter. It is not reproduced here.