Earlier this year, a 40-year debate over a painting known as the de Brécy Tondo was settled thanks to artificial intelligence–based facial recognition software, with the painting now considered likely to be the work of famed Renaissance artist Raphael. Now, that painting has gone on public display for the first time at the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford, England.
For years, the de Brécy Tondo was assumed to be a copy of a work by Raphael made in the Victorian era, in large part because of its resemblance to his Sistine Madonna altarpiece.
Hassan Ugail, a professor at the University of Bradford and the director of the university’s center of visual computing, developed an artificial intelligence model that could identify paintings by Old Masters and recently said he was sure the tondo was by Raphael.
“My AI models look far deeper into a picture than the human eye, comparing details such as the brush strokes and pigments. Testing the Tondo using this new AI model has shown startling results, confirming it is most likely by Raphael,” Ugail told the Guardian.