Blockchain and Fine Art Restoration: Q&A with AI Vanguard Art

Steve McNew, Senior Managing Director and Global Leader for FTI Consulting’s Blockchain & Digital Assets practice, is one of the industry’s foremost experts in enterprise blockchain, cryptocurrency and the future of digital assets. He recently spoke with Manuel Portela and Yan Antropov of AI Vanguard Art, an innovative initiative bringing lost artwork back to life, about how advanced technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence can be combined to support innovation in unexpected places.  

McNew: Manuel, Yan, your work at AI Vanguard Art is the only effort I’ve seen that combines art history, AI and blockchain technology. Can you explain the background of what you’re doing?

Antropov: We have developed advanced AI technology designed to recreate lost masterpieces of renowned artists from the past. This has been an eight-year project to date, involving meticulous research, artistic craftsmanship, documentation and technical development. Our initial project is to fully and authentically restore Titian’s Twelve Caesars paintings, which were lost in a fire at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid in 1734, a disaster in which hundreds of works of art were lost.

Our researchers have taught AI to create paintings in the style of Titian, using the same materials that would have been used at the time, including the paint, canvas and Titian’s unique brushstroke style. Getting to the point of recreating a historic masterpiece required many iterations as the AI learned from verification and feedback from our team of art historians. Because the number of paintings by Titian still in existence, we went through a long series of variations of Titian paintings to have the model adapt.

Interestingly, this technology we have developed has also had some applications outside of the art world. Several law enforcement agencies have used our algorithms to enhance facial recognition to find serious criminals and terrorists.

McNew: What’s the status of the work today?

Portela: Our first physical painting, Titian’s Julius Caesar, is completed. It is on the same canvas and painted with the same materials that were used in the sixteenth century. We have also created a non-fungible token for the physical painting, which is now minted on Ethereum. Soon, the artwork will be appraised for potential auction, sale or tokenization. 

McNew: That’s incredible. We’ve had the opportunity to work with you on some of the technical aspects of your Twelve Caesars project. Why did you decided to integrate blockchain technology?

Antropov: Provenance is critical in the world of fine art. We take this very seriously and knew that in addition to ensuring our recreations are historically and artistically accurate, we need protect its chain of custody for historians and collectors. We knew that blockchain technology would be an important component in establishing security controls and verification for this to stand up as the legitimate and enduring artwork it is. So, we wanted blockchain infrastructure to support documentation and traceability of synthetic DNA in the portrait and quantum technology in the NFT, with all the metadata needed to prove authenticity. 

McNew: Yes, provenance and traceability are critical and blockchain is a powerful technology for this. What are some of the benefits you’ve seen so far from blockchain for the Julius Caesar?  

Portela: Blockchain and the creation of the NFT have established a three-layer system for security for our paintings. We have the infrastructure for security and provenance for the artworks’ records of origin, ownership, transaction history and end-to-end authenticity. Our Twelve Caesars will be the first physical artwork in the world with this kind of embedded security. Additionally, the NFT adds value to potential collectors and gives us flexibility when the painting goes into the market. 

McNew: This is such an exciting project. What comes next?

Antrpov: The painting and NFT will be sold together, potentially at auction or private sale. We have also considered tokenizing it, so multiple collectors or museums may share ownership. We will also continue to partner closely with academic institutions and museums as we recreate the remaining paintings in Titian’s Twelve Caesars collection. We plan to finish the collection this year; moving forward we will resurrect other lost masterpieces. 

Portela: We have also recently taken on an advisory role in the areas of artificial intelligence, cultural heritage and international economic development with CRECTEALC, a United Nations-affiliated research and development center focused on space science, technologies education and advancing global innovation initiatives. This collaboration provides us with access to advanced computational infrastructure, including distributed supercomputing resources across Latin America, Africa, India and Europe (Barcelona), which will meaningfully accelerate our AI-driven reconstruction processes and large-scale data analysis. AI Vanguard Art was also recently onboarded onto the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem program, supported by the National Science Foundation, which provides access to supercomputing infrastructure to support our work.

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The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.