skip to main content
10.1145/3386567.3388565acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagessiggraphConference Proceedingsconference-collections
other

Inverse-rendering-based analysis of the fine illumination effects in Salvator Mundi

Published:28 September 2020Publication History

ABSTRACT

The painting Salvator Mundi is attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and depicts Jesus holding a transparent orb. The authors study the optical accuracy of the fine illumination effects in this painting using inverse rendering. Their experimental results provide plausible explanations for the strange glow inside the orb, the anomalies on the orb and the mysterious three white spots, supporting the optical accuracy of the orb's rendering down to its fine-grain details.

Skip Supplemental Material Section

Supplemental Material

07-liang.mp4

Presentation video.

mp4

296.6 MB

References

  1. N. Freeman, "Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' Sells for $450.3 M. at Christie's in New York," ARTNEWS, 15 November 2017.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. B. Lewis, The Last Leonardo: The Secret Lives of the World's Most Expensive Painting (New York: Ballantine, 2019).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  3. W. Isaacson, Leonardo da Vinci (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  4. Isaacson [3].Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. M. Kemp, "Sight and Salvation," Nature 479 (2011) pp. 174--175.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  6. A. Noest and M. Kemp, "Art History: No Refraction in Leonardo's Orb," Nature 480 (2011) p. 457.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  7. C. Hope, "A Peece of Christ," London Review of Books 42, No. 1 (2020).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  8. A. Criminisi, M. Kemp and A. Zisserman, "Bringing Pictorial Space to Life: Computer Techniques for the Analysis of Paintings," in Digital Art History: A Subject in Transition (Bristol, U.K.: Intellect Books, 2005) pp. 77--99.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  9. D. Hockney and C. Falco, "Optical Insights Into Renaissance Art," Optics & Photonics News 11, No. 7, 52--59 (2000).Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  10. D. Stork, "Optics and Realism in Renaissance Art," Scientific American 291, No. 6, 76--83 (2004).Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  11. D. Stork, "Computer Vision and Computer Graphics Analysis of Paintings and Drawings: An Introduction to the Literature," in Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns, Xiaoyi Jiang and Nicolai Petkov, eds. (Münster: Springer, 2009) pp. 9--24.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  12. S. Boivin and A. Gagalowicz, "Inverse Rendering from a Single Image," Conference on Colour in Graphics, Imaging, and Vision (2002) pp. 268--277.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  13. S. Marschner and D. Greenberg, "Inverse Lighting for Photography," Color and Imaging Conference 1 (1997) pp. 262--265.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  14. R. Ramamoorthi and P. Hanrahan, "A Signal-Processing Framework for Inverse Rendering," SIGGRAPH (2001) pp. 117--128.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  15. Y. Yu et al., "Inverse Global Illumination: Recovering Reflectance Models of Real Scenes from Photographs," SIGGRAPH (1999) pp. 215--224.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  16. Leonardo also used a sfomato technique, which blurs some edges in a painting, such as is seen in the jawline of Jesus in Salvator Mundi. However, the sfomato has not been used with the orb.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  17. S. Grundy, "The Distortion of Leonardo da Vinci: How Experts Missed the Significant Anamorphic Design of Salvator Mundi," South African Journal of Art History 33, No. 4, 47--56 (2018).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  18. M. Zhanhang Liang, M. Goodrich and S. Zhao, "On the Optical Accuracy of the Salvator Mundi," arXiv:1912.03416 (2019).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  19. W. Jakob, Mitsuba 0.5, physically based rendering software tool, 2010: http://www.mitsuba-renderer.org/index_old.html (accessed April 2020).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  20. M. Pharr, W. Jakob and G. Humphreys, Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation (Cambridge, MA: Morgan Kaufmann, 2016).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  21. Because some experts disagree about whether this painting should be attributed to Leonardo, we use "Leonardo?" when referring to the artist who painted Salvator Mundi.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  22. Liang, Goodrich and Zhao [18].Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  23. Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Atlanticus, c. 1513--15. f. 750r [277r.a].Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  24. Noest and Kemp [6].Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  25. Hope [7].Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  26. Criminisi, Kemp and Zisserman [8].Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Recommendations

Comments

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Sign in
  • Published in

    cover image ACM Conferences
    SIGGRAPH '20: ACM SIGGRAPH 2020 Art Gallery
    August 2020
    99 pages
    ISBN:9781450379526
    DOI:10.1145/3386567

    Copyright © 2020 Owner/Author

    Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

    Publisher

    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    • Published: 28 September 2020

    Check for updates

    Qualifiers

    • other

    Acceptance Rates

    Overall Acceptance Rate1,822of8,601submissions,21%

    Upcoming Conference

    SIGGRAPH '24
  • Article Metrics

    • Downloads (Last 12 months)16
    • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)2

    Other Metrics

PDF Format

View or Download as a PDF file.

PDF

eReader

View online with eReader.

eReader