Automatic pigment identification on Roman Egyptian paintings by using sparse modeling of hyperspectral images

Neda Rohani, Johanna Salvant, Sara Bahaadini, Oliver Strides Cossairt, Marc Sebastian Walton, Aggelos K Katsaggelos

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, we study the problem of automatic identification of pigments applied to paintings using hyperspectral reflectance data. Here, we cast the problem of pigment identification in a novel way by decomposing the spectrum into pure pigments. The pure pigment exemplars, chosen and prepared in our laboratory based on historic sources and archaeological examples, closely resemble the materials used to make ancient paintings. To validate our algorithm, we created a set of mock-up paintings in our laboratory consisting of a broad palette of mixtures of pure pigments. Our results clearly demonstrate more accurate estimation of pigment composition than purely distance-based methods such as spectral angle mapping (SAM) and spectral correlation mapping (SCM). In addition, we studied hyperspectral imagery acquired of a Roman-Egyptian portrait, excavated from the site of Tebtunis in the Fayum region of Egypt, and dated to about the 2nd century CE. Using ground truth information obtained using Raman spectroscopy, we show qualitatively that our method accurately detects pigment composition for the specific pigments hematite and indigo.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2016 24th European Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO 2016
PublisherEuropean Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO
Pages2111-2115
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9780992862657
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 28 2016
Event24th European Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO 2016 - Budapest, Hungary
Duration: Aug 28 2016Sep 2 2016

Publication series

NameEuropean Signal Processing Conference
Volume2016-November
ISSN (Print)2219-5491

Other

Other24th European Signal Processing Conference, EUSIPCO 2016
Country/TerritoryHungary
CityBudapest
Period8/28/169/2/16

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Signal Processing
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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