To the untrained eye, there is very little difference between the three known versions of “The Lute Player.” Almost identical in composition, the paintings all depict a young, doe-eyed subject in white robes, instrument in hand and turned slightly away from the viewer. Each appears to carry Italian painter Caravaggio’s signature mastery of light and shadow.
To art historians, however, there has long been broad agreement: The versions held by Russia’s Hermitage Museum and France’s Wildenstein Collection were created by the Baroque artist, while the one at Britain’s Badminton House is merely a copy.
Artificial intelligence begged to differ. In September, Swiss AI firm Art Recognition claimed there…