Modigliani Painting Unveils Hidden Portrait Of Ex-Lover With AI Technology
Video screenshot via MORF Gallery
In 2018, x-ray studies conducted by the Tate in London unveiled that Amedeo Modigliani’s Portrait of a Girl, created in 1917, was originally a full-length painting of another woman. The famed oil painting’s seated brunette had been painted over a slender blonde.
Now, two scientists have uncovered and reconstructed a portion of the hidden painting, using stereoscopic imaging, artificial intelligence (AI), and 3D printing.
According to Hyperallergic, in January 2019, neuroscientist Anthony Bourached teamed up with physicist George Cann to found Oxia Palus – a scientific project that uses machine learning to reconstruct previously hidden artworks. Apart from the Modigliani, the pair has also uncovered a Blue Period painting by Picasso, a Madonna by Leonardo da Vinci, and a landscape painting by Santiago Rusiñol, all of which were painted over.
Bourached and Cann make use of a neural style transfer algorithm, which uses imagery from x-ray scans and information from the artist’s other works to reproduce colors, brushstrokes, and other key features.
Who could this secret blonde woman be? It’s suspected to be Modigliani’s ex-lover, the English poet and writer Beatrice Hastings. She was known to have posed for at least 14 of Modigliani’s portraits, though the relationship’s explosive and violent nature saw it come to an end, as per Hyperallergic.
Perhaps it was after heartbreak that Modigliani decided to paint over her portrait with another woman, but Hastings has now resurfaced as the artist’s first muse. The Hidden Picture will be on view till the end of June at the Lebenson Gallery in London.
[via Hyperallergic, cover image via MORF Gallery]
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