The Madonna della Rosa is a painting created by Raffaello Sanzio (and his workshop apprentices: Giulio Romano and Giovan Francesco Penni) in 1518. The painting depicts the Virgin with the Child in her arms, alongside Saint John the Baptist, and in the background, Saint Joseph.
The composition of the painting is inspired by The Madonna of the Spindle by Leonardo da Vinci, and it is very likely that the two artists had the opportunity to meet and discuss in Rome between 1513 and 1516. To date, the work, housed at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, has been at the center of various debates to ascertain its authorship.
The Enigma Behind Raffaello’s “Madonna della Rosa”
Indeed, although the entire painting is attributed to the Urbino master, the same cannot be said for the face of Saint Joseph. This has long been a mystery debated among historians and art critics, which finally finds an answer thanks to the application of Artificial Intelligence in the authentication process of the work: the piece has been tested by AI developed by Hassan Ugail, a professor of visual computing at the University of Bradford, who identified the painterly characteristics unique to Raffaello, attributing parts of the work to him and others to his workshop apprentices.
Words from Professor Hassan Ugail of the University of Bradford
“The computer observed the painting in detail,” explained Professor Hassan Ugail, as reported by The Guardian. “Not only the face, but also all the parts that make up the painting, and it scanned the color palette, the shades, the chromatic values, and the brush strokes. It understands the painting almost microscopically and has assimilated all the key characteristics of Raffaello’s hand.” An important discovery published in the journal Heritage Science, on which Howell Edwards, a professor of spectroscopy at the English university, also commented, emphasizing that “the analysis from the Artificial Intelligence program conclusively demonstrated that the figures of the Madonna, Jesus, and Saint John the Baptist are unequivocally by Raffaello, while that of Saint Joseph is not.”
Authenticating Masterpieces of Art History Through AI: Between Skepticism and Authority
The application of Artificial Intelligence in the authentication processes of historic artworks is not viewed favorably by industry professionals; Professor Hassan Ugail believes that one day art historians will be happy to have such efficient assistants, although these will never be able to replace the capabilities of human beings.
Valentina Muzi
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