Multi-spectral Imaging of a van Gogh's Self-portrait at the National Gallery of Art Washington DC

Efforts to apply an end-to-end color reproduction system using multi-channel visible-spectrum imaging to a van Gogh self-portrait at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., have been under way at the Munsell Color Science Laboratory. The goal was to perform preliminary experiments by imaging a target consisting of pigments based on direct spectral measurements of the painting. These experiments are useful in preparing for future imaging that will result in hardcopy that will yield the least metameric matches to the original colors. The approach evaluated consisted of capturing scenes through a trichromatic digital camera combined with multiple filterings and six-color printing. The system was designed to estimate the original scene spectra on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The spectral-based printing used in this research was able to produce the least metameric reproduction to the original. Results show a system accuracy of mean ∆E*94 of 5.0 and spectral reflectance rms error of 3.1%.