Revealing pentimenti: the hidden history in a painting

Amy A. Gooch

doi:10.1117/12.720861

16 February 2007 Revealing pentimenti: the hidden history in a painting

Amy A. Gooch

Proceedings Volume 6492, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XII; 64920Y (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.720861
Event: Electronic Imaging 2007, 2007, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Art conservators often explore X-ray images of paintings to help find pentimenti, the artist's revisions hidden beneath the painting's visible first surfaces. X-ray interpretation is difficult due to artifacts in the image, superimposed features from all paint layers, and because image intensity depends on both the paint layer thickness and each pigment's opacity. We present a robust user-guided method to suppress clutter, find visually significant differences between X-ray images and color photographs, and visualize them together. These tools allow domain experts as well as museum visitors to explore the artist's creative decisions that led to a masterpiece.

Citation Download Citation

Amy A. Gooch "Revealing pentimenti: the hidden history in a painting", Proc. SPIE 6492, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XII, 64920Y (16 February 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.720861

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