The Love Letter Johannes Vermeer c L30; object number SK-A-1595 Rijksmuseum

Transcription

1 1 WEAVE MAP REPORT The Love Letter Johannes Vermeer c L30; object number SK-A-1595 Rijksmuseum C. Richard Johnson, Jr. Cornell University William A. Sethares University of Wisconsin - Madison sethares@gmail.com August 2017 In this report, paintings by Vermeer are referred to by L-numbers, based on their numbering in W. Liedtke, Vermeer: The Complete Paintings, Ludion, The dates cited on this cover page span the range of dates estimated in the oeuvre catalogs by Wheelock (1997), Liedtke (2008), and Franits (2015) as compiled in the table at references/dates.html.

2 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Summary This document applies spectral-based, automated thread counting to The Love Letter (L30) by Johannes Vermeer and includes the following: 1. stitched x-radiograph of full painting 2. vertical thread density map 3. horizontal thread density map 4. vertical thread angle map 5. horizontal thread angle map 6. histograms of vertical and horizontal thread counts and angle maps 7. a listing of all close count matches (within ±1 th/cm in both directions for an H to H and V to V match or an H to V and V to H match) among Vermeer s 34 paintings on canvas 8. a composite image containing thread density maps of the painting being studied and its close count matches to the same scale and colorbar for weave match hunting 9. comments on observed cusping and weft snakes Observations: The average thread density of The Love Letter is (H x V) is x th/cm. The Love Letter has cusping depth of 5 cm or less on all four sides The Love Letter has five close count matches, but no weave matches. The thread angle maps of The Love Letter suffer from too much interference to confidently detect weft snake indicators.

3 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Background Manual thread counting has been used for several decades. One canvas descriptor that has been routinely collected is the average thread count of the threads in each direction (vertical and horizontal) in a painting s canvas. This information has been used to discount the possibility of two canvases coming from the same original roll if their average thread counts (horizontal compared to horizontal and vertical compared to vertical or horizontal compared to vertical and vertical to horizontal) are too different, e.g. by more than 1 th/cm. In 2009, the first weave maps derived from automated thread counts based on a spectral analysis of the painting s x-radiograph were shown at the annual AIC meeting in Los Angeles. The stripes that arise in color-coded images of thread count in small evaluation squares covering the entire painting were immediately recognized as a fingerprint of a specific roll. The first weave match was also shown in this talk [1]. The utility of automated thread counting for canvases with a sufficiently regular weave was confirmed in [2]. Weave matches with art historical implications have been reported for paintings by van Gogh [3], Velázquez [4], and Vermeer [5] [6]. Spectral-based automated thread counting also provides angle maps that make cusping assessment [7] and weft snake hunting [8] easier. Descriptions of the revelations possible from these new visualizations of canvas weave density and thread angle are provided in [9]. Technical description appears in [10] of the algorithms used in composing and comparing weave maps. References [1] C. R. Johnson, Jr., E. Hendriks, P. Noble, and M. Franken, Advances in Computer-Assisted Canvas Examination: Thread Counting Algorithms, 37th Annual Meeting of American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, Los Angeles, CA, May [2] C. R. Johnson, Jr., D. H. Johnson, N. Hamashima, H. S. Yang, and E. Hendriks, On the Utility of Spectral-Maximum-Based Automated Thread Counting from X-Rays of Paintings on Canvas, Studies in Conservation, vol. 56, pp , 2011.

4 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August [3] L. van Tilborgh, T. Meedendorp, E. Hendriks, D. H. Johnson, C. R. Johnson, Jr., and R. G. Erdmann, Weave Matching and Dating of Van Gogh s Paintings: An Interdisciplinary Approach, The Burlington Magazine, vol. CLIV, pp , February [4] Pablo Pérez D Ors, C. R. Johnson, Jr., and D. H. Johnson, Velázquez in Fraga: a New Hypothesis about the Portraits of El Primo and Philip IV, The Burlington Magazine, vol. CLIV, pp , September [5] W. Liedtke, C. R. Johnson, Jr., and D. H. Johnson, Canvas Matches in Vermeer: A Case Study in the Computer Analysis of Fabric Supports, Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 47, pp , [6] C. R. Johnson, Jr. and W. A. Sethares, Canvas Weave Match Supports Designation of Vermeer s Geographer and Astronomer as a Pendant Pair, Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art, vol. 9, issue 1, Winter DOI: /jhna [7] P. Noble, A. van Loon, C. R. Johnson, Jr., and D. H. Johnson, Technical Investigation of Rembrandt and/or Studio of Saul and David c from the Collection of the Mauritshuis, ICOM-CC 2011 Lisbon Triennial Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, September [8] C. R. Johnson, Jr., D. H. Johnson, I. Verslype, R. Lugtigheid, and R. G. Erdmann, Detecting Weft Snakes, Art Matters, vol. 5, pp , [9] D. H. Johnson, E. Hendriks, and C. R. Johnson, Jr., Interpreting Canvas Weave Matches, Art Matters, vol. 5, pp , [10] D. H. Johnson, C. R. Johnson, Jr., and R. G. Erdmann, Weave Analysis of Paintings on Canvas from Radiographs, Signal Processing (Special Issue on Image Processing for Art Investigation), vol. 93, pp , March Note: All of these references are available for download from

5 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Observations X-Radiograph: The x-radiograph of L30 in Figure 2 shows the damage done by a theft in 1971 during which the painting was cut from its frame. The places where the original paint has been replaced are dark in the x-radiograph. Average Thread Count: For L30 the average thread count (H x V) is 12.8 x th/cm. These values are noted at the top of the images in the top row of Figure 3 along with the standard deviations of ±2.1 th/cm (H) and ±1.64 th/cm (V). The thread counts were computed in evaluation squares 0.5 cm on a side centered on a grid of points with 0.25 cm horizontal and vertical spacings. The histograms of the thread counts in each thread direction in the evaluation squares, as well as the histograms of the thread angles computed in the same evaluation squares, are plotted in Figure 4. Tight Count Matches: All of the weave matching pairs discovered so far among the canvases of paintings by Vermeer have had both thread counts within 1 th/cm of each other. Using this metric for the designation of a tight count match, L30 has five: L05 (The Letter Reader, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Desden), L12 (A View of Delft, Mauritshuis), L15 (The Music Lesson, Royal Collection Trust), L20 (A Lady Writing, National Gallery of Art, DC), and L29 (The Lacemaker, Musée du Louvre). Weave Matches: Figure 9 is designed to assist in assessing if any of the tight count matches to L30 are also weave matches to L30. In Figure 9 all images are to the same scale, which is necessary for visual evaluation of potentially matching stripe patterns. The first two images in the second row are the horizontal thread density map of L05 and the vertical thread density map of L05 - rotated 90 degrees so the stripes are horizontal - with the same colorbar as used for the horizontal thread count for L30 on the left in the top row of Figure 9. These are to be placed on either the right or the left of the left image in the top row and moved up and down looking for a match of the stripe patterns. The images from the second row should be rotated 180 degrees as well in seeking matches in the striped patterns. A similar visual check is made with the third and fourth images in the second row of Figure 9 against the right image in the top row. The last two images in the second row are the vertical thread

6 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August density map of L05 and the horizontal thread density map of L05 - rotated 90 degrees so the stripes are vertical - with the same colorbar as used for the vertical thread count for L30 on the right in the top row of Figure 9. These are to be placed either above or below the right image in the top row and moved right and left looking for a match of the vertical stripe patterns. Also, 180 degree rotations of the two rightmost images in the second row should also be considered for matching stripe patterns. Of these four images in the second row, only one (or none) can have a match with the corresponding images in the top row. No alignment offering a match of the striped patterns is apparent. This examination is repeated for the remaining rows containing the weave maps to be compared for the other tight count matches to L30. No alignment offering a match of the striped patterns is apparent. Consequently, there appear to be no weave matches for L30 among Vermeer s paintings on canvas with a close count match to L30. Confidence in this claim is tempered by the noisy speckled weave maps of L30, especially the horizontal thread density map in Figure 5 and on the left in the top row in Figure 9, which does not have an obvious striped pattern anticipated for weave matching. This may be due to the poor condition of the canvas in this damaged painting. The speckled nature of Figure 5 is reflected in its flat histogram plotted in the upper left quadrant of Figure 4. Weft Snake Indicators: The thread angle maps for L30 in Figures 7 and 8 suffer from too much interference to confidently detect weft snake indicators. Cusping: Though difficult to assess from the noisy thread angle maps of L30, cusping can be observed as 5cm or less in depth on all four sides of the painting.

7 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Acknowledgments The authors of this weave map report on one of Vermeer s paintings on canvas are grateful to the owners of Vermeer s paintings, all of whom gave us access to high resolution digitized x-radiographs of their Vermeers Walter Liedtke (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Gregor Weber (Rijksmuseum) for their help in persuading the owners of paintings by Vermeer to grant us access to their x-radiographs Rob Erdmann (Rijksmuseum) for expertly assembling full-painting composite x-radiographs all of our research collaborators and thread-counting students over the past decade since the founding of TCAP: the Thread Count Automation Project ( tcap.html).

8 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Images Figure 1: A Lady Writing (L30) Note: All of the following images (Figures 2-9) are available on request as high resolution tiff or pdf files.

9 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Figure 2: X-Radiograph of L30

10 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August horizontal thread density (12.8 +/- 2.1 threads/cm) vertical thread density ( / threads/cm) horizontal thread angles (+/ degrees) vertical thread angles (+/ degrees) Figure 3: Weave Maps of L30

11 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Figure 4: Histograms of Thread Count and Angle Computations for L30

12 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Figure 5: Horizontal Thread Density Map of L30

13 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Figure 6: Vertical Thread Density Map of L30

14 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Figure 7: Horizontal Thread Angle Map of L30

15 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Figure 8: Vertical Thread Angle Map of L30

16 Johnson and Sethares, Weave Map Report, August Figure 9: Tight Count Matches of L30