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Image and pattern analysis for the determination of the method of drawing celebrated thera wall-paintings circa 1650 B.C.

Published: 07 October 2010 Publication History

Abstract

In this article, an integrated conjecture about the method of drawing of monumental prehistoric wall-paintings is presented and supported. Specifically, the article deals with paintings that initially decorated the internal walls of the highest floor of a building, called “Xeste 3”, at Akrotiri of the Greek island of Thera circa. 1650 B.C. It is argued that these wall-paintings could had been drawn while the brush was guided by an apparatus, which corresponds to advanced for the era of geometric prototypes with impressive precision. A set of assumptions concerning the actions the artists might have taken in order to create the spiral themes is stated and supported. These assumptions refer to the existence of a draft plan, the sequence of brush strokes, the placement of the brush on the wall, as well as the possible form of the apparatus. These conjectures are evaluated and tested by means of curve fitting and image analysis methods developed by the authors. The results indicate that all drawn contour parts optimally fit along a single prototype linear spiral with fitting error of less than 0.4mm, supporting existence of a very advanced culture for the era of geometric guide. It is statistically rejected that this guide could have the form of a stamp. Moreover, there is strong evidence that the painter might have used a draft plan of the spiral themes to prepare the final drawing and that the linear spiral guide has been used by alternating its placements in order to form the internal and external spiral contour.

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  • (2016)Distinguishing between Abstract Art by Artists vs. Children and AnimalsACM Transactions on Applied Perception10.1145/291212513:3(1-17)Online publication date: 28-May-2016
  • (2012)Computer analysis of artJournal on Computing and Cultural Heritage 10.1145/2307723.23077265:2(1-11)Online publication date: 6-Aug-2012

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cover image Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage
Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage   Volume 3, Issue 2
September 2010
85 pages
ISSN:1556-4673
EISSN:1556-4711
DOI:10.1145/1841317
Issue’s Table of Contents
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part 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 components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Publication History

Published: 07 October 2010
Accepted: 01 May 2010
Revised: 01 April 2010
Received: 01 December 2007
Published in JOCCH Volume 3, Issue 2

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Author Tags

  1. Finding the method of drawing of paintings
  2. curve fitting
  3. prehistoric paintings and geometry
  4. prototypes determination in paintings

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View all
  • (2016)Distinguishing between Abstract Art by Artists vs. Children and AnimalsACM Transactions on Applied Perception10.1145/291212513:3(1-17)Online publication date: 28-May-2016
  • (2012)Computer analysis of artJournal on Computing and Cultural Heritage 10.1145/2307723.23077265:2(1-11)Online publication date: 6-Aug-2012

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