MS PLD results of FINGERPRINT project in KU Leuven Campuskrant

Cartoon by Joris Snaert © on the use of the Portable Light Dome when digitizing a Bruegel drawing (page 2 of Campuskrant 31/1) 

In an interview in the KU Leuven university journal Campuskrant with prof. Lieve Watteeuw the KU Leuven contributions to the FINGERPRINT project have been highlighted in length. The Campus article focuses on the work with the original drawings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and how the imaging effort by the FINGERPRINT-team have made the difference to better understand the virtuosity of Breugel the artist.  These results will also be presented on the KBR exhibition: The World of Bruegel in Black and White.

PDF of the complete campuskrant edition

Two page article on the Bruegel research by the KU Leuven in the FINGERPRINT project (©Campuskrant 31/1, pages 9-8) 

New paper and poster presented at the Archiving 2018 conference

At the Archiving 2018 conference (April 18-20, NARA, Washington, IS&T) a new paper and poster was presented: Bridging Multi-light & Multi-Spectral images to study, preserve and disseminate archival documents.

Bruno Vandermeulen, Hendrik Hameeuw, Lieve Watteeuw, Luc Van Gool, Marc Proesmans, Bridging Multi-light & Multi-Spectral images to study, preserve and disseminate archival documents, Society for Imaging Science and Technology, Archiving2018: Final Program and Proceedings pages:64-69

 

Final Report EES-project

The EES-project collaborated in the joined effort to develop the multi-spectral component of the Portable Light Dome system. Below the final report of the entire project as published via its funding organisation BELSPO (see also their projects webpage):

Luc Delvaux, Hendrik Hameeuw, Athena Van der Perre, Vanessa Boschloos, France Ossieur, Bruno Vandermeulen, Marc Proesmans, Dennis Braekmans 2017: Conservation, IR, UV and 3D-Imaging: The Egyptian Execration Statuettes Project. Final Report, Belgian Science Policy – Brussels, pp 66. (DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10989.28649)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder under the PLDs

In 2019, worldwide attention will be paid to Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It is then exactly 450 years ago that the famous artist
passed away. Therefore, Bruegel will be celebrated in exhibitions all over the world. But, new exhibitions require new research and research techniques. That’s why the Royal Library of Belgium and the KU Leuven joined efforts in the context of a BRAIN-BE project funded by Belspo. FINGERPRINT is an interdisciplinary project in which art historical and artistic research, digital imaging and image processing, conservation and restoration projects and data management are brought together. All these efforts include as well the use of both the White Light Portable Light Dome (WL PLD) and the Multispectral Portable Light Dome (MS PLD). Their datasets are being combined with the output of standard technical photography techniques. The ultimate goal of the FINGERPRINT project is to join all this static and interactive information and develop tools and methods to analyse objectively drawings, prints and engravings of this master and others; to create a platform to examine and understand a historical artifact automatically.

A first introduction article on this new project in which the PLD systems are being applied has been published in the journal Science Connection by the Belgian Science Policy Agency Belpso:

Joris Van Grieken, Lieve Watteeuw, Bruno Vandermeulen, Marc Proesmans & Maarten Bassens 2017:

• Fingerprint onderzoekt Pieter Bruegel de oude: De start van een interdisciplinaire studie van zijn tekeningen en prenten (Dutch version),
• Fingerprint, projet de recherche sur Pieter Bruegel l’Ancien: Le lancement d’une étude interdisciplinair de ses dessins et estampes (French version),

in: Science Connection 45, 32-36.

 

Publication MS PLD, conference paper

A. Van der Perre, H. Hameeuw, V. Boschloos, L. Delvaux, M. Proesmans, B. Vandermeulen, L. Van Gool, L. Watteeuw 2016: Towards a combined use of IR, UV and 3D-Imaging for the study of small inscribed and illuminated artefacts, in: Homem P. M. (ed.), Lights On … Cultural Heritage and Museums!, Porto, 163-192.

 

Publication MS PLD in Applied Physics A

Watteeuw L., Hameeuw H., Vandermeulen B., Van der Perre A., Boschloos V., Delvaux L., Proesmans M., Van Bos M., Van Gool L. 2016: Light, shadows and surface characteristics: the multispectral Portable Light Dome, in: Applied Physics A Materials Science & Processing 122: 976, 1-7. (DOI:1007/s00339-016-0499-4) [IF: 1.444]

Discover RICH

Light, Shadows and Surface Characteristics: The Multispectral Portable Light Dome

Poster presented @ inArt: 2nd International Conference on Innovation in Art Research and Technology, Ghent, 21-25 March 2016

by: L. Watteeuw, H. Hameeuw, B. Vandermeulen, A. Van der Perre,
V. Boschloos, L. Delvaux, M. Proesmans, M. van Bos and L. Van Gool

A pdf of the poster can be consulted here.

Microdome imaging workshop at the J.P. Getty Museum

Between January 27th and February 3th the RICH team has been working together with the scientists and conservators of the J.P. Getty Museum and Research Institute in Los Angeles. Various artifacts of the Museum collection have been monitored and studied with Photometric Stereo such as medieval manuscripts, master drawings, bookbindings and daguerreotypes.

A daguerreotype by Jacob Byerly (1807-1883); left full image made with the White Light Microdome; middle a detail with raking light; right same detail with shaded filter showing degradation. Click on the image to enlarge;  collection J. P. Getty Museum

Both White Light and Multi-Spectral Microdomes have been used. The RICH Project, the technical background and the research targets have been highlighted the on February 2nd during the lecture: Microdomes and Manuscripts: Multi-Spectral and Photometric Stereo Imaging for Illuminations, Drawings and Documentary Heritage. After the lecture, a hands-on workshop was given at the Imaging Studio of the Getty Center.

Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (Georg Bocskay & Joris Hoefnaegel, 1561-62), folio 33; image with White Light Microdome, collection Getty Museum

Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (Georg Bosky & Joris Hoefnaegel, 1561-62),  detail, folio 33; Multi-Spectral Microdome; top left shaded filter; top middle Infrared light (850 nm); top right Red light (623 nm); below left Green light (523 nm); below middle Blue light (460 nm), below right UV light (365 nm)

RMAH – MS Imaging of Mummy Portrait

In collaboration with the RICH project and the ESAT labs (both KU Leuven) the Royal Museums of Art and History coordinates a pioneer project in which the multi-light Portable Light Dome is transformed into a Multi Spectral dome equipped with IR, Red, Green, Blue and UV LED light sources. This short video demonstrates the acquisition process with the fist developed MS microdome prototype of a Fayum mummy portrait (Egypt, Roman era) at the Brussels museum.

more info: http://www.kmkg-mrah.be/conservation-ir-uv-and-3d-imaging-egyptian-execration-statuettes