
Using Mathematics to Repair a Masterpiece (2016) - Luc
https://www.quantamagazine.org/using-mathematics-to-repair-a-masterpiece-20160929/
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kaitai
Daubechies has done some really cool work in math. She's probably best known
in math for work in wavelet/image compression/signal processing and inverse
problems.

Here's an abstract for a talk that gives you a better idea of related work of
hers bearing on both evolution/biology and art:
[https://www.ece.uw.edu/lytle/2012-ingrid-daubechies-
lytle/](https://www.ece.uw.edu/lytle/2012-ingrid-daubechies-lytle/) Apparently
this work on distance metrics can be applied to work backward from
"mathematical distance between teeth" to "what did extinct animals eat?".

It's interesting to watch her expand from traditional applied math (analysis)
to increasing interaction with machine learning techniques. She's doing a lot
with neural nets now, bringing this understanding of geometry and analysis to
try to (for instance) reduce 'memorization' by neural nets and instead
increase pattern recognition.

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dzdt
The crack-finding and inpainting described is detailed in the academic paper
at

[https://services.math.duke.edu/~ingrid/publications/Lam_Gods...](https://services.math.duke.edu/~ingrid/publications/Lam_Gods_crack_detection_inpainting.pdf)

This includes nice pictures of the painting in question, which doesn't appear
at all in the originally linked article.

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LoSboccacc
well yes we have the technology to redo all those art pieces from scratch and
enjoy them in their fullest, but at which point it's just a reconstruction (or
an elaborate picture) of the original?

without going all "Ship of Theseus" on this, age and decay is part of those
masterpieces quality; most of them were cracked and wrinkly just months after
delivery and their defects are integral part of the art.

