A mystery painting found to be “undoubtedly” by Raphael is to go on public display for the first time in Bradford.
The de Brécy Tondo has been the subject of research and debate for more than 40 years due to its resemblance to Raphael’s Sistine Madonna. Recent analysis using artificial intelligence-assisted, computer-based facial recognition showed the faces in the painting were identical to those in Raphael’s famous altarpiece.
The Tondo will be on display at Bradford council’s Cartwright Hall Art Gallery for two months from 25 July after a University of Bradford professor’s research into identifying the painting.
Prof Hassan Ugail, the director of the centre of visual computing at the university, has developed an AI model to recognise paintings by old masters.
He said: “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.
“Together with my previous work using facial recognition and combined with previous research by my fellow academics, we have concluded the Tondo and the Sistine Madonna are undoubtedly by the same artist.”
Ugail said he believed the technology “could be used alongside human experts, leading to easier authentication and greater transparency”.
He used millions of faces to train an algorithm to recognise and compare facial features in thousands of dimensions. A similarity above 75% is considered identical. The similarity between the madonnas was found to be 97%, while comparison of the child in both paintings produced an 86% similarity.
Ugail’s AI analysis adds further weight to previous analysis by Prof Howell Edwards, emeritus professor of molecular spectroscopy at the University of Bradford, who found the pigments in the Tondo placed it firmly in the Renaissance period, and Prof Christopher Brooke, of the University of Nottingham, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and historian of ecclesiastical art and architecture.
The Tondo was bought in 1981 by the Cheshire businessman George Lester Winward, who set up the de Brécy Trust Collection to preserve his collection of paintings and drawings and make them available to art scholars for study.
Timothy Benoy, the honorary secretary of the de Brécy Trust, said: “It is only fitting that the Tondo’s first public display is in Bradford, where cutting-edge technologies at the university have been used to determine its attribution.
“We believe the work on the Tondo very forcibly illustrates the increasing value of scientific evidence in the attribution of a painting.”
Councillor Sarah Ferriby said Bradford council was “delighted to be the first place in the world to have this amazing artwork on public display”.
