A recent artificial intelligence analysis challenges the authorship of a prominent face in Raphael's Madonna della Rosa, a renowned painting housed in Madrid's Museum del Prado, according to researchers from the Universities of Nottingham, Bradford, and Stanford.
For centuries, the Madonna della Rosa has been a subject of debate among art experts, with speculations about contributions from other artists, like Raphael's pupil Giulio Romano. Some questioned specific details, such as the lower section with the rose, leading to debates about attributing the work to Raphael's workshop.
In a breakthrough, researchers utilized deep feature analysis, led by Professor Hassan Ugail from the University of Bradford. Their algorithm, boasting a 98% accuracy rate, scrutinized authentic Raphael paintings to recognize his unique style, including brushstrokes, color palette, and shading, at a microscopic level.
Professor Ugail explains, "The computer sees far more deeply than the human eye," giving binary classifications with 98% accuracy on whether a painting is authentic Raphael.
Initial testing on the Madonna della Rosa produced inconclusive results, prompting researchers to focus on individual sections. While most of the painting was confirmed as Raphael's, the face of Joseph emerged as likely not created by the Renaissance Master.
In the case of the Madonna, initial testing indicated 60% attribution to Raphael, with subsequent sectional analysis pinpointing Joseph's face as inconsistent with Raphael's style.
This isn't the first time such analysis has been applied. The research team previously used artificial intelligence-assisted facial recognition on the de Brécy Tondo, resembling Raphael's Sistine Madonna. The result, backed by pigment analysis, firmly categorized it as a work by Raphael, firmly placing it in the Renaissance era.
