What’s the story
Artificial intelligence (AI) has revealed a hidden detail in the famous painting, Madonna della Rosa (Madonna of the Rose), by Italian artist Raphael.
The AI system found that the face of St Joseph, painted in the top left corner of the artwork, was probably not painted by Raphael himself.
This revelation corroborates long-standing debates among scholars about the authenticity of this particular painting.
Algorithm supports alternate artist theory
The discovery was made using a new analysis method based on an AI algorithm. The technique indicates that some of the brushstrokes in the painting may have been made by another artist.
To reach this conclusion, UK and US researchers developed a unique analysis algorithm, using confirmed works of Raphael as reference points for training the AI system.
Training to recognize Raphael’s style
The AI system was trained with deep feature analysis on authenticated Raphael paintings.
Hassan Ugail, a mathematician and computer scientist from the University of Bradford in the UK, explained that this way, the computer was able to recognize Raphael’s style in great detail.
The algorithm analyzed every aspect of his work, from brushstrokes to color palette and shading techniques.
AI’s microscopic vision surpasses human eye
Ugail stressed that the computer’s vision at a microscopic level is better than that of the human eye.
To train the machine learning (ML) processes, the research team utilized a large dataset of examples from Raphael’s work.
They tweaked pre-trained architecture developed by Microsoft, called ResNet50, and integrated it with a traditional ML technique, known as Support Vector Machine (SVM).
Method shows high accuracy in identifying Raphael’s work
The AI method has shown a 98% accuracy rate in identifying Raphael’s paintings. In this investigation, the team not only trained it on whole pictures but also asked it to examine individual faces within the artwork.
While Madonna, Child, and St John were identified as Raphael’s creations, St Joseph was not.
This finding matches previous debates where critics argued St Joseph‘s face seemed less skillfully rendered than others in the painting.
Raphael’s pupil may have contributed to painting
Ugail said when they tested the Madonna della Rosa as a whole, the results were inconclusive. However, testing individual parts confirmed most of the picture as Raphael’s work, except for Joseph’s face.
It is speculated that Giulio Romano, a student of Raphael, might have painted St Joseph.
This theory aligns with art critics’ suspicions since the mid-1800s that Raphael may not have been the sole artist behind this artwork.
