Computer creates its own Rembrandt-style painting

BBC : A new masterpiece has been created in the style of Dutch master painter Rembrandt—but not by human hands. Over the past two years Microsoft and others have been collaborating on a project to develop a computer program that can paint an original Rembrandt-style portrait. The researchers made three-dimensional scans of Rembrandt’s paintings and digitally tagged data on everything from content to lighting to brush-stroke style. Then machine-learning algorithms looked for characteristic patterns in the data. Finally, the computer was asked to create its own portrait in the style of Rembrandt. The final image was 3D printed using 13 layers of ink to replicate the height and depth of the paint in an actual Rembrandt work. The result, a remarkably realistic-looking painting of a middle-aged white male in period dress, is to be put on public exhibition and will be used to better understand “what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece,” said Emmanuel Flores, the project’s technology director.