Artificial intelligence has solved the mystery of Raphael's painting Madonna with a Rose

London – Art historians, with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), have seemingly managed to unravel the mystery surrounding the famous painting by the Renaissance master Raphael, which is part of the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid. Experts have long disagreed on whether some parts of the oil painting titled Madonna with a Rose are the work of another painter. An algorithm developed by researchers at the University of Bradford in the UK has now confirmed this version – according to it, the figure of Saint Joseph was painted by a different hand than Raphael's, wrote The Guardian.

Doubts about Raphael's authorship of the entire painting arose as early as the 19th century, as the figure of Saint Joseph in the background stood out from the depiction of the Virgin Mary, the infant Jesus, and John the Baptist. Some experts concluded that Raphael only partially painted the artwork - it was speculated that not only the painting of Saint Joseph but also part of the foreground featuring a lying rose was created by another artist.

The team led by Hassan Ugail used artificial intelligence for the new analysis, which had detailed data on 49 paintings with confirmed authorship by Raphael.

"The computer examines paintings in immense detail. It's not just about the faces; (AI) studies all parts and learns about colors, shades, saturation, and brush strokes. It understands the painting on an almost microscopic level, and in this way, it studied the key characteristics of Raphael's handwriting," Ugail said.

AI determined that Raphael did not paint the face of Saint Joseph, and experts summarized the arguments in an article for the scholarly journal Heritage Science. "The analysis using artificial intelligence clearly established that while the figures of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and John the Baptist were undoubtedly painted by Raphael, the figure of Saint Joseph was not; it was created by someone else," stated another co-author of the study, Howell Edwards.