Mathematics studying Art

Rick Johnson has had a longstanding interest in art, dating back to his student days. In 2005, he used the opportunity of a sabbatical leave in Paris to approach the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam about collaboration. He became the instigator of the very successful IP4AI (Image Processing for Art Investigation) workshop series, bringing together art historians and conservation specialists with algorithm-building signal processors.His own work in the IP4AI arena has focused on Automatic Thread Counting. Originally meant to relieve conservators from the tedious task of determining threads-per-inch counts by hand, the techniques proved capable in several instances of providing decisive information for the dating and attribution of Old Master paintings. He has worked on paintings not only by Van Gogh, but also by Vermeer, Velazquez, Rembrandt and others; he is presently concentrating on 17th century European paintings.