a tale of two mathematicians and many tapestries

[anotheranon]

Capturing the Unicorn - this story has something for everyone: modern computing, digital photography, and medieval tapestries!

The Chudnovsky Mathematician (actually two brothers who work together) came to the aid of the Met when they couldn't make their sectional photographs of The Unicorn Tapestries line up into a seamless whole. It turns out that the restoration process had caused the fibers in the tapestry to change shape so it "moved" during the photographic sessions. The Chudnovskys ran complicated algorithms against the image data to make them line up correctly.

Most excitingly for me, when the Met conservators removed the tapestry backing, they found that the backside was relatively unfaded over 500 years - new, exciting colors :) I hope they got pix of the backside as well.

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

That was the coolest article! And yes, they did photograph both sides completely.

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Amazing!!!!!!! And so heartening to know that museums are documenting their collections so carefully and thoroughly ... not only will everything be preserved, but the items will also be accessible to people who can't physically visit the institution. :-))))))

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

> The Chudnovsky Mathematician (actually two brothers who work together)
> came to the aid of the Met when they couldn't make their sectional
> photographs of The Unicorn Tapestries line up into a seamless whole

At first I was pretty sure this story was headed in a "House of Leaves" direction, which was definitely creeping me out. The vastly more prosaic truth is delightfully mundane by comparison. :)