EAGER: Automated Watermark and Moldmate Identification

识别古董(1750年前)铺设纸中的水印是确定其生产日期和来源的重要法医依据。对于纸上的艺术品，水印是确定日期和鉴定的关键因素。即使对于纸张分析专家来说，分类和区分水印也是一项困难、耗时的任务。最近的研究表明，基于计算机的决策树可以极大地减少水印识别任务和同一模板上的纸张的伴随识别所花费的时间，同时增加对结果的置信度。数字图像处理在这项任务中的应用是计算艺术史这一新领域的一个例子，该领域在过去十年中取得了爆炸性的进展。通过这个项目，使用数字图像处理的自动化可以扩大水印和模具识别的任务，以处理伦勃朗和他的学生版画和素描纸中数百个单独水印的宇宙，并允许将这种识别从主要博物馆的这些艺术品扩展到较小博物馆和私人收藏品的数千个。预计这将使这一有价值的法医技术扩展到其他1750年前艺术家在纸上的艺术品中使用的平铺纸上的数千个水印。这个项目在计算艺术史上的进步将为普通民众提供一条以一种新的和有吸引力的方式参与艺术的途径，他们越来越适应日常生活中计算机使用的扩大。艺术史是文化遗产中的一个子领域，在数字科学和人文的出现方面拖延时间最长。这个项目的成功将是人文和科学之间进一步跨学科活动的主要推动力，从而减少两种文化的分离，这是至关重要的，因为日常生活的方方面面的数字化以炙手可热的速度获得主导地位。该项目继续在计算艺术史的新领域做出开创性的努力，该领域正在扩大数字图像处理作为艺术史研究的重要工具的接受程度，因为它极大地扩展了艺术史学家的智力范围。随着第一批工具在这个新生的领域被开发出来，越来越多的科学家和工程师被这些问题的挑战所吸引，艺术历史学家的具体需求无疑将揭示出需要在数字图像处理的基础科学方面取得进展的新任务。计算和视觉人文科学之间的这种联系也提供了一个强大的联系，以对抗工程科学和人文之间在各级教育中不断扩大的鸿沟。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Identification of watermarks in antique (pre-1750) laid paper is a vital forensic in determining the date and origin of its production. For artworks on paper, watermarks are a key element in dating and authentication. Classifying and distinguishing watermarks is a difficult, time-consuming task even for paper analysis experts. Recent research has shown that a computer-based decision tree can reduce dramatically the time expended in the task of watermark identification and the concomitant identification of sheets of paper made on the same mold, while at the same time increasing the confidence in the result. The application of digital image processing to this task is one example of the new field of computational art history, which has exploded over the past decade. Through this project, automation using digital image processing can scale up the task of watermark and moldmate identification to handle the universe of the hundreds of individual watermarks in the papers of prints and drawings of Rembrandt and his pupils and allow expansion of this identification beyond these artworks in major museums to the thousands in smaller museums and private collections. This is expected to energize the expansion of this valuable forensic to the thousands of watermarks in laid paper used in artworks on paper by other pre-1750 artists. Advances in computational art history stemming from this project will offer a path for the general population, which is growing quite comfortable with the expansion of computer usage in everyday life, to engage with art in a new and appealing way. Art history is one subfield within cultural heritage that has delayed the longest in joining the emergence of the digital science and humanities. The success of this project will be a major enabler for further trans-disciplinary activities between the humanities and the sciences, thereby decreasing the separation of their two cultures, which is vital as the digitization of all aspects of daily life gains dominance at a scorching pace.This project continues the pioneering efforts in the new field of computational art history that is broadening acceptance of digital image processing as a vital tool in art history research as it tremendously expands the intellectual reach of art historians. As the first tools are developed in this nascent field and more scientists and engineers are drawn to the challenges of these problems, the specific needs of art historians will undoubtedly reveal new tasks requiring advances in the underlying science of digital image processing. This connection between computation and the visual humanities also offers a powerful link to combat the widening gulf in education at all levels between engineering science and the humanities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.