AI & Research

Intelligence for visual history

Thermal image of a historic painting showing a seated figure with two children

We use AI to connect visual evidence, collections data and archival knowledge—making humanistic inquiry more comprehensive and discovery more efficient.

Why agents

More evidence. Clearer provenance. Expert control.

An agent can search across tools and archives, compare competing evidence and assemble a documented path to a conclusion.

Our goal is not unexplained prediction. It is research infrastructure that helps specialists collect, test and interpret evidence. Sources remain visible. Uncertainty remains explicit. Qualified professionals remain responsible for evaluation.

Diagram showing an AI model, sparse visual-feature dictionary and art-historian review workflow

Recent innovations

Research made to move the field forward.

Explore all research →

Live project

01

Conservation AI Research Desk

An agentic research desk that searches a local conservation corpus and returns a cited synthesis with every source visible for professional review.

Conservation literature · Cited synthesis

Research publication

02

Stylistic Analysis through an Art-History Agent

A framework connecting vision-transformer features, curator-written texts and an autonomous coordinator to produce evidence-led stylistic descriptions.

Marc S. Walton · Astrid Harth · August 2026

Research publication

03

AI Characterization of Particles and Fibers

A semantically anchored vision system for retrieval and characterization of particles and fibers from optical microscopy images.

Simiao Sun et al. · August 2026

A foundation for the next-generation archive.

Connect

Consolidate open cultural-heritage resources and institutional collections across fragmented systems.

Coordinate

Build research agents capable of using multiple specialist tools to test and refine art-historical questions.

Discover

Reveal patterns in artistic expression, material practice and cultural impact across time and place.

Work with us

Bring a question worth looking at closely.

We collaborate with collectors, museums, advisers and researchers on objects, collections and new research infrastructure.