using technology to uncover mysteries about the age and authenticity of historic paintings

By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press

ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) — Richard Johnson can see right through the masterpieces of Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

The Cornell University electrical and computer engineering professor is a digital art detective, able to unlock the mysteries of a work's age and authenticity by analyzing its underlying canvas or paper.

Using high-resolution X-ray images, the 64-year-old academic can actually determine if paintings came from the same bolt of hand-loomed canvas, each of which has a varying thread density pattern that can be as unique as a fingerprint. Linking multiple pieces of canvas to the same bolt can shore up arguments for authenticity and even put works in chronological order.

It's a valuable service to world-class museums that comes through the unlikely cross-pollinating of traditional art history and contemporary computer science.

Cornell University

Computer and engineering professor Richard Johnson is using technology to uncover mysteries about the age and authenticity of historic paintings by artists like Johannes Vermeer and Vincent Van Gogh.
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