By
Tom Goodenough
11:15 EST, 20 May 2012
|
11:27 EST, 20 May 2012
The brush strokes behind some of the most iconic artworks have long been known to hide mystery and intrigue.
But now, thanks to technology usually associated with combating crime, some of the greatest puzzles in portrait – such as who is the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ – could well be revealed.
Many of us are fascinated by detective shows such as CSI and one Professor of medieval art, who came up with the idea of using the technology in his own field of work, was similarly inspired.
The identity of the ‘Girl With A Pearl Earring’, could finally be revealed with the assistance of crime fighting technology
Professor Conrad Rudolph, from the University of California at Riverside, said: ‘Almost every portrait painted before the 19th century was of a person of some importance.
‘As families fell on hard times, many of these portraits were sold and the identities of these subjects were lost. The question we hope to answer is, can we restore these identities?’
‘It is different using this on art rather than an actual human.
‘But we are trying to test the limits of the technology now and then who knows what advances may happen in the future? This is a fast-moving field.
The academic hopes that facial recognition software could help to match those painted in portraits with death masks and busts from the same era.
Using such technology alongside computer programs, it is hoped the mysteries wrapped up in brush work will then be revealed.
Frans Hals’ The Laughing Cavalier, painted in 1624, could soon be spilling out his secrets
It is also believed the various debates surrounding images of Shakespeare – in particular if the figure from the ‘Chandos portrait’ is indeed the bard himself – could also be cleared up through using the technology.
The starting point for the project – ‘FACES: Faces, Art, and Computerized Evaluation Systems’ – is using three-dimensional images, such as the desk mask and bust of 15th-century Italian statesman Lorenzo de’ Medici.
Initial subjects to be researched will be selected with as much control over variables as possible.
For example, testing will begin by comparing the death or life mask of a known individual to an identified sculptural portrait of the same individual.
Rudolph said if the refinement of facial recognition software to identify works of art is as successful as they believe it will be, the technology could be used museums and art conservation laboratories as a standard part of curatorial and preservation practice.
It could also be used to recognise variations in architectural details that would reveal new information about building processes, building history, and architectural details, and might also have potential with paleography (ancient writing), possibly allowing the determination of the origin and date of thousands of ancient manuscripts for which identification remains a very subjective matter.
The researchers plan to develop a website and a museum exhibition to demonstrate the use of facial recognition technology to identify portrait subjects.
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