MADRID.- For the first time on Open Access and via its website, the Museo Nacional del Prado is offering the computer programme Aracne, which facilitates the scientific study of canvases used by artists for their paintings. The programme is the result of ten years of research and close collaboration between the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville (Dr Juan José Murillo) and the Technical Department of the Museo Nacional del Prado (Dr Laura Alba).


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Aracne is a digital resource that applies frequency analysis to an image of fabric in order to describe it automatically, accurately and objectively. To do so, the software automatically counts the threads that make up a piece of fabric regardless of its use or origin. In the case of the Museo Nacional del Prado, the interest focuses on detailing the canvases used as supports by painters. For this reason the software has been specifically designed to analyse the fabrics most often employed for easel paintings: both those with a plain weave and those with a twill weave with simple patterns.

The Museo del Prado has been studying its collections for some years using the Aracne programme and has obtained significant results in both the attribution, dating and provenance of the works as well as in the relationships established between them. Many of these results have been included in the Museum’s catalogues and publications. An example of a change of attribution is to found in the recent exhibition Herrera the Younger and the absolute Baroque (2023), in which the portrait known as The Artillery General, traditionally attributed to Francisco Rizzi, was given a new attribution to Herrera the Younger on the basis of a study of the fabric of the work’s canvas.

In the exhibition A Tale of Two Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana (2019) the dating of the portrait of Philip II was modified. Traditionally dated 1565, Arachne determined that the work’s execution had to be put back to 1573 following the discovery that it was painted on the same canvas as the portrait of Anne of Austria. Similarly, the use of this software made it possible to establish that Rubens’s copies of Titian’s Adam and Eve and The Abduction of Europa were painted in Madrid and on canvases that came from the same roll.

The excellent results obtained with Aracne and the commitment to the scientific community on the part of both the University of Seville and the Museo del Prado have led to this innovative programme being offered free of charge on Open Access. From today, any user can download the software from the Prado’s website, which includes an explanation of how to use it and describes the origins of the project, in addition to providing examples of its application. Finally, there is an account of current lines of research which are applying Artificial Intelligence to improve results with regard to certain canvases with unique characteristics.

Aracne is an example of work and collaboration between institutions in seemingly distant fields such as art and mathematical analysis, as well as an example of the generosity of two public institutions seeking to advance knowledge of the cultural heritage.


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