2/5/2025 | 9:20 AM - 10:30 AM | Grand Peninsula B

Art history, computer vision…and the face of Abraham Lincoln

Author(s)

Betsy Mathisen

Abstract

All the pieces of the puzzle have been gathered: A miniature portrait painting on ivory approximately 2” in diameter dated circa 1840-1842, found next to a letter detailing the owner’s family relationship to Mary Todd Lincoln. The distinctive features of President Lincoln’s face and substantial asymmetry. A 19th century fine art historian’s extraordinary investigation, but no historical document to prove her hypothesis. The pathway is open for the great minds of art and science to determine if this miniature painting is the earliest image of Abraham Lincoln and to solve this puzzle. The challenge is to provide the art world enough ammunition to definitively give a potential American national treasure a rightful home in history. And to open the doors for future collaboration in identifying historical faces of the past. One of these great minds is that of David Stork. Dr. Stork is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University and an expert in computer-based image analysis. Dr. Stork holds 64 U.S. patents and has published over 220 peer-reviewed scholarly works in machine learning, pattern recognition, computational optics, and image understanding of art. His recent publication Pixels and Paintings…Foundations of Computer-Assisted Connoisseurship1 invites a dialog between art scholars and the computer vision community.