Raphael, Flaget Madonna. Faces of the Madonna and Child identified as painted by Raphael through brushstroke AI analysis. Courtesy Flaget Madonna LLC.

NEW YORK, NY.- A previously unknown 16th century panel painting by Raphael and studio, the Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, has been discovered. Known as the Flaget Madonna, the painting depicts the Madonna and Child with Elizabeth and John the Baptist. The work’s attribution is the result of more than two decades of study, and includes new brushstroke AI analysis that identifies both the faces of the Madonna and infant Jesus as by the Master’s own hand.

Dr. Larry Silver, Farquhar Professor of Art History emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, was the first art historian to examine the painting and propose that it was from the studio of Raphael with significant parts of the work attributed to the artist himself. Further examination by Art Analysis and Research including pigment analysis and provenance review reinforced this attribution. The artwork was most recently examined by Art Recognition, an award-winning AI system for art authentication, and represents the first time this cutting-edge technology was used to identify the presence of a Renaissance master’s own hand in work by his studio.

“The technical and art historical analyses align to suggest that the core of this painting is likely to have been designed by Raphael, with the obvious participation in the work by a lesser, secondary hand,” summarized Dr. Silver.

Brushstroke AI Analysis

As the leading private company offering brushstroke AI authentication, Art Recognition, based in Zurich, works by designing a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) specific to the artist. The brushstroke AI was trained on a high quality dataset containing images of all paintings currently known to have been created by Raphael and a contrast set of fakes, comparables, and contemporaries. The system was then able to clearly identify feature series, such as the artist’s brushstroke as well as variations in color and high-level composition elements.

The AI reviewed 16 individual segments of the Flaget Madonna as well as the painting as a whole. While the analysis showed that the painting was not entirely by Raphael, both the faces of the Madonna and Child were confirmed as 96.57% and 96.24% attribution to Raphael.

“Through brushstroke artificial intelligence, we offer objectivity and accessibility to clients, which has been missing in the field of art evaluation for many years. Art history, provenance, chemical analysis, and other methods are all critical to the full understanding of an artwork, but attribution decisions should not be left solely to the subjective human expert’s eye,” said Dr. Carina Popovici, Founder and CEO of Art Recognition.

“With brushstroke AI making advancements in the art world, it’s exciting to see Art Recognition use this technology to authenticate paintings,” added Hikari Senju, Founder and CEO at Omneky, which utilizes state-of-the-art deep learning to empower businesses to grow. “Growing up, I remember going to art museums with my dad, who is an artist, and him pointing out characteristics of each artwork and what made them significant. With the advent of computer vision, for the first time art and design can be quantified. Never before have we had the power to attribute artwork with the support of AI to confirm artist technique with data. We are in an exciting period in technological design with wide implications of this innovation in a variety of fields.”

Raphael, Flaget Madonna, detail Faces of the Madonna and Child identified as painted by Raphael through brushstroke AI analysis. Courtesy Flaget Madonna LLC.