Photogrammetry and light analysis. Interactions in the study of Baroque architecture

Digital Humanities have given researchers access to new tools to resolve issues that had been inaccessible until now, beyond simply giving formulas to visualize traditional objects with a more up-to-date and attractive appearance. Within this context, this article aims to demonstrate that the combined use of photogrammetry and light analysis gives us a useful tool for resolving issues arising in the historiography of architecture, particular for the Baroque period. In this case, the study focuses exclusively on the use of natural light in religious buildings, without paying particular attention to the use of candles for the time being. To do so, the article focuses on the specific case of the convent church of San Jacinto (Seville), presenting the results obtained by combining the different techniques: measurement-based surveying, photogrammetry and computer light analysis. The results include varying levels of detail that enable each of them to be evaluated. This data has been used to try to provide a response to a long-standing scientific issue: providing a preliminary specification of what has been defined as a cave-shaped space by determining the levels of light in each part of the building. More specifically, an architectural model of the use of natural light has been achieved which, compared to other buildings studied previously, enables new data to be gathered with respect to the illumination of religious buildings in the Middle Ages in Andalusia, which can also be extrapolated to other areas on the Iberian Peninsula and abroad.