Artificial intelligence challenges experts in the debate over the authenticity of Caravaggio’s "Lute Player"

The painting "The Lute Player," considered a copy for decades, has undergone a new verification using artificial intelligence technology and been confirmed as an authentic work by the Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The analysis, conducted by the Swiss company Art Recognition in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, placed the probability of its authorship at 85.7 percent. Experts describe this figure as very high.

Three versions of one plot

There are three known versions of "The Lute Player." One is housed in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, another belongs to the Wildenstein Collection and was on long-term loan at the Metropolitan Museum in New York from 1990 to 2013. The third version, from Badminton House, which spent 275 years in Gloucestershire, was unveiled to the public in 2001.

All three paintings depict a youth with a lute performing a madrigal about love. The Badminton House and Hermitage versions feature madrigals by Jacques Arcadelt, and the visible text reads, "You know that I love you and adore you… I was yours." The Wildenstein version features works by the Florentine composer Francesco de Loyolle, set to texts by Petrarch.

The story of a painting with a controversial fate

The version of "The Lute Player" from Badminton House in Gloucestershire has had a complex and controversial history on the art market. In 1969, Sotheby’s auction house sold the painting as a copy "after Caravaggio" for just £750. Three decades later, in 2001, the same painting was auctioned again for £71,000, attributed to a work from the "circle of Caravaggio."

The buyer was British art historian Clovis Whitfield, who acquired the work jointly with the late collector Alfred Bader. Whitfield defended the painting’s authenticity for many years, pointing out its consistency with the detailed description in Giovanni Baglione’s 1642 biography of Caravaggio. The historian noted that the painting "corresponds exactly" to the description, including such finely observed details as the reflections in the dewdrops on the flowers.

Next-generation authentication technology

Art Recognition applies advanced machine learning and computer vision techniques to determine the authenticity of artworks. The system utilizes two types of artificial neural networks: a convolutional neural network and a shifted-window vision transformer. These architectures are adapted to classify artworks into "authentic" and "non-authentic" categories.

The technology captures the artist’s unique characteristics — from brushstrokes to high-level compositional elements. The algorithm is trained on an extensive database of verified artworks and known fakes. The authentication process is based solely on photographs of the work, making it accessible and cost-effective.

Dr. Karina Popovich, head of Art Recognition, emphasized the significance of the result: "Anything above 80 percent is a very high score." According to the company, the system is capable of detecting even digital counterfeits created by generative artificial intelligence.

Confrontation with traditional experts

Keith Christiansen, former curator of European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum, categorically rejected the attribution of the Badminton House version. In a 2007 letter to Alfred Bader, Christiansen wrote: "No one — certainly no modern scholar — has ever considered, or ever will consider, the idea that your painting could have been painted by Caravaggio."

Whitfield believes that Christiansen and some Italian experts are "stuck in a traditional rut," refusing to accept the new attribution, even though other experts support it. The historian stated, "The AI result knocks Mr. Christiansen off his pedestal."

Art Recognition’s analysis also cast doubt on the Wildensteins’ version, previously considered authentic. The algorithm gave it a negative result. Further analysis of the lute depicted revealed numerous inaccuracies in the Wildensteins’ version.

The context of Caravaggio’s work

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio remains one of the most revered artists in art history. The 17th-century Italian Baroque master lived a short but turbulent life, creating a relatively small number of works. Only about 60 authentic works by the artist are known.

Caravaggio’s paintings

"The Lute Player" dates back to Caravaggio’s early period. The canvas is illuminated by a soft chiaroscuro, inspired by the 16th-century Brescian masters. This approach is characteristic of the artist’s early development, preceding the dramatically illuminated style of his maturity.

The still life in the painting demonstrates an exceptionally high level of craftsmanship. The delicately rendered fruit and flowers, the damaged fruits, and the cracked lute body suggest the theme of transience: love, like all things, is fleeting and mortal. The artist has reproduced the opening notes of madrigals so precisely that one can recognize the Roman printer Valerio Doric.

Giovanni Baglione’s biography as a key source

Giovanni Baglione was an Italian painter of the late Mannerist and early Baroque periods, as well as an art historian. Although he created numerous paintings, Baglione is best known for his literary works and his hostile relationship with Caravaggio. In August 1603, Baglione filed a libel suit against Caravaggio, Orazio Gentileschi, and other artists over offensive poems circulating in Rome.

Caravaggio’s testimony during the trial became one of the few documented accounts of his thoughts on art and his contemporaries. Caravaggio stated, "I don’t know a single artist who thinks Giovanni Baglione is a good painter." Caravaggio was found guilty and held in Tor di Nona prison for two weeks after the trial.

Years after Caravaggio’s early death in 1610, Baglione became his first biographer. In his book "Lives of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects: From the Pontificate of Gregory XII in 1572 to the Time of Pope Urban VIII in 1642," he paid tribute to Caravaggio’s early works, but his hostility is evident in his descriptions of the younger artist’s life and character. Published in 1642, this work presents an encyclopedic collection of biographies of artists active in Rome during the late Mannerist and early Baroque periods.

Despite their personal feud, Baglione left detailed descriptions of Caravaggio’s works. It was these descriptions, including mention of minute details like reflections in dewdrops on flowers, that allowed Whitfield to defend the authenticity of the Badminton House version.

Musical instruments as witnesses of the era

The musical instruments depicted in all versions of "The Lute Player" were apparently taken from the collection of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. The cardinal was one of Caravaggio’s early patrons and owned a rich collection of musical instruments.

The Badminton House and Hermitage versions feature fruit and flowers on one side of the table, covered in bare marble, and a violin on the other. The Wildenstein version features a rug-covered table with a tenor recorder in front, and the flower still life replaced by a miniature keyboard instrument, the spinet.

The choice of Franco-Flemish composers over Italian ones reflects the cultural and political ties of the Del Monte-Giustinian circle, which had a pro-French orientation. This circle of art patrons had a significant influence on the formation of the young Caravaggio’s style and career.

Potential financial cost of opening

The new authentication could increase the painting’s value several times over. Caravaggios are so rare that when one was discovered in 2019, it was valued at approximately £96 million. Considering the last sale price of the Badminton House version was just £71,000, the difference in value could reach hundreds of millions.

Experts believe that confirming the painting’s authorship could completely change the perception of the work and its place in art history. The discovery’s value lies not only in its financial valuation but also in the opportunity to expand our understanding of the master’s creative legacy.

Model on canvas: hypotheses and assumptions

The androgynous model in the painting can be identified as Pedro Montoya, who was part of the del Monte household and a renowned singer in the Sistine Chapel during Caravaggio’s time. However, the artist’s biographer, Peter Robb, has suggested that the model could have been Mario Minniti, a close friend of Caravaggio. Minniti is believed to have posed for several other works by the master, including "The Cardsharps" and two versions of "The Fortune Teller."

The young man is depicted with thick, chestnut-colored hair and soft features, characteristic of many of Caravaggio’s early works. The choice of this type of model reflected the aesthetic preferences of the Roman artistic community of the late 16th century.

Revolution or provocation in art history

The use of artificial intelligence in art authentication is sparking heated debate in the professional community. Traditional art criticism relies on the subjective judgments of experts based on years of experience studying a particular artist’s work. New technologies offer objective analysis free from human bias.

Critics of the AI approach point out that the algorithm cannot account for the artist’s historical context, provenance, and stylistic evolution. Supporters of the technology claim that it can reveal microscopic details of painting technique that are invisible to the human eye.

The case of "The Lute Player" demonstrates the clash of two paradigms: traditional forensics and algorithmic analysis. The outcome of this confrontation could determine the future of art attribution methods.

Features of chiaroscuro in the master’s early works

The painting is illuminated by the soft chiaroscuro contrasts characteristic of early Caravaggio. This technique, inspired by the 16th-century Brescian artists, creates volume in the figures and objects. The light shapes the forms of the youth and the musical instruments, creating a sense of materiality and presence.

In his later works, Caravaggio intensified the contrast between light and shadow, developing the dramatic tenebrism that became the hallmark of his mature style. Works like "The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew" feature sharp transitions from illuminated areas to deep shadows. "The Lute Player" represents a transitional phase, when the artist experimented with light before achieving the radical contrasts of his later masterpieces.

Still life symbolism and the theme of vanitas

The still life in the painting carries a profound symbolic charge. Damaged fruit with signs of decay, wilting flowers, and a cracked lute body remind us of the transience of all earthly things. This theme of vanitas — the futility and transience of life — was extremely popular in European Baroque painting.

The dewdrops on flowers, so meticulously described by Baglione, serve as a metaphor for the transience of the moment. The dew evaporates with the first rays of the sun, just as youth and beauty fade. The musical theme reinforces this message: the sounds fade instantly, love fades, leaving only the notes written on paper.

Provenance of the Wildenstein version

The Wildenstein version was sold by the heirs of Cardinal del Monte to Cardinal Antonio Barberini in 1628. The inventory listed it as "a young man playing the clavichord" without attribution. The work was listed alongside "Saint Catherine" and "The Cardsharps," which were specifically identified as works by Caravaggio.

This painting was on long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1990 to 2013. In 1990, an exhibition was held to identify the Wildenstein version as the authentic Caravaggio. The exhibition catalog noted the markedly different lighting of this version, stating that it "marks a significant step toward the more dramatically lit, focused style of Caravaggio’s maturity."

However, critic Jason Kaufman believed that the Wildensteins’ depiction of the youth was aesthetically inferior to the Hermitage version. David Van Edwards, noting obvious errors in the depiction of the lute, the secondary light source, and the inconsistent perspective of the table and the sitter, concluded that the painting was not by Caravaggio.

The History of Badminton House and its Artistic Treasures

Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Beaufort, has amassed a significant art collection over the centuries. A version of "The Lute Player" remained at this residence for 275 years before being sold in 1969. Its long stay in a private collection explains why the painting remained largely unnoticed by Caravaggio experts.

The estate gave its name to the version of the work now known as "The Lute Player at Badminton House." After its sale in 2001, the painting passed to Clovis Whitfield and Alfred Bader. The two collectors launched a campaign to re-attributed the work, which met with resistance from leading experts.

Comparison with the Hermitage version

The version of "The Lute Player" in the State Hermitage Museum is considered one of Caravaggio’s early works, in which the artist sought to convey the reality and materiality of the surrounding world. The Hermitage painting displays a composition similar to the Badminton House version: a youth with a lute, a marble table with a still life of fruit and flowers, and a violin.

In 2020, the Hermitage and Badminton House versions were exhibited together at the Borghese Gallery. This provided a rare opportunity for a direct comparison of the two works. Both versions feature madrigals by Jacques Arcadelt with lyrics about love.

The quality of the still life in both versions is considered exceptionally high. The finely rendered fruits, flowers, and musical instruments attest to the mastery of the execution. The notes of the madrigals are reproduced so accurately that the publisher can be identified.

The Role of Cardinal del Monte in Caravaggio’s Career

Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte became one of the young Caravaggio’s first and most important patrons. The artist lived in the Palazzo del Monte and had access to the cardinal’s exquisite collection of musical instruments. It was during this period, around 1596, that the first version of "The Lute Player" was created.

The cardinal belonged to the del Monte-Giustinian circle, which had a pro-French orientation. This explains the choice of Franco-Flemish composers for the madrigals depicted in the painting. The patron’s cultural preferences directly influenced the content of Caravaggio’s works of this period.

Alfred Bader: collector and chemist

Alfred Bader was a chemist and avid art collector who died in 2016. Along with Clovis Whitfield, he acquired the Badminton House version of The Lute Player in 2001. Bader amassed a significant collection of European paintings, which was eventually donated to Queen’s University in Canada.

Bader’s collection was distinguished by its emphasis on the quality of works rather than on big names. The collector’s approach was to discover and promote the achievements of little-known artists. The acquisition of the controversial version of "The Lute Player" was consistent with this philosophy: Bader believed in the work’s value despite the skepticism of experts.

Prospects for further research

The results of the artificial intelligence analysis open new horizons for the study of Caravaggio’s work. Further technical studies of all three versions of "The Lute Player" are now required, including pigment analysis, radiography, and examination of the preparatory layer. These methods will help establish the chronological sequence of the versions.

An important area of research will be the study of painting techniques at the microscopic level. Comparison of brushstrokes, paint application, and compositional features can confirm or refute the findings of artificial intelligence. The expert community should develop criteria for evaluating the results of algorithmic analysis.

The case of "The Lute Player" could set a precedent for reconsidering the attributions of other disputed works. Artificial intelligence technologies could breathe new life into debates about the authenticity of paintings long considered copies or works by followers of great masters.