Authentic: Computerized Brushstroke Analysis

The paper provides insights into our efforts to develop techniques for the analysis of visual art. The AUTHENTIC project aims at creating a collection of software tools to support art experts in their assessments of the authenticity of paintings. We describe our progress on the automatic analysis of the visual texture of the paintings of Vincent van Gogh. The texture-analysis technique reveals two main clusters of brushstroke shapes used in the paintings by Van Gogh. These qualifying results lead us to conclude that the use of advanced digital analysis techniques will change the way in which the authentication of visual art is performed.