RECENART: Recovering texts from old maps No Images? Click here With this picture from our offices we want to wish our clients, friends and colleagues For anyone who wants to send gifts and cards to us, we have analysed a map to find us. It is from the year 1582 and it is one of the first maps made from Central Finland.This is an original map of the Finnish wilderness area since 1582. The place names have worn down over time. The map is based on the court's decision at the time and was done by locals, as the first surveyor started working in Finland in 1633. Places marked on the map were significant landmarks in nature - for example, a lake, an island, a hill and a large rock. The map was rediscovered in 1659 and the local judge was a little annoyed about the condition of the map and the handwriting: "The map is broken and weary and difficult to read.", he wrote. The map defined the route to Lapland and it is still the main highway to the North. The places of the 16th Century map today.
The vanished texts were rediscovered from 300 years old mapOur researchers recovered a text from another map from 1693. This map is also a map from Central Finland and it was drawn by a local judge when solving the fights between the two local villages. A hundred years later the surveyor C. Boisman proved the borders correct, but his text was worn down over the centuries. Below is the image of the text and the processed hyperspectral image of the same text. RECENART imaging services helped the historian Heikki Rantatupa to read the maps. Heikki is specialized in reading ancient Swedish and Finnish writing. The maps are from the National Archives of Finland Normal photos have three colors: red, green, and blue. This type of information is called RGB. Likewise, the human eye has only 3 different cell types that can detect the colors (one for each RGB). Hyperspectral cameras used by RECENART can detect more than 600 different colors. The cameras also operate four times the wavelength as the human eye can see. Our researchers have developed unique ways to process the hyperspectral data. Our novel hyperspectral cameras combined with innovative data processing provide information on artworks, underdrawings, lost signatures, and vanished texts. SERVICESCONDITION REPORTS CONSERVATION SCIENTIFIC ART ANALYSISRECENART offers unique analytical services for the art world. We combine 13 different state-of-the-art scientific techniques with art historical methods. We give concrete and unbiased research results about artworks and archaeological artefacts. Our mobile laboratory services are available on-site. www.recenart.com |