• WImBo — Watermark imaging box project: A digital art history data acquisition tool

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Screenshot of WimBO tool description

Description

The goal of the Watermark Imaging Box (WImBo) Project is to develop a low-cost, readily portable system for imaging artworks on paper; as a proof of concept, WimBo focuses on etchings and drawings by the innovative and prolific Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669) and drawings by his pupils, in order to produce images of the watermark and chain lines in the paper support. The background of the WImBo project is described here as an extension of two still-active, pioneering projects in the emerging field of computational art history using digital image processing to address issues in art history scholarship. These two foundation projects are devoted to Chain Line Pattern Marking and Matching (CLiP) - founded in 2012 - and Watermark Identification in Rembrandt's Etchings (WIRE) - founded in 2015.

Contributors

C. Richard Johnson, Jr.

Institutional Affiliation

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Is this project Alive?

No

Year: Known Start

2018

Decades

2010-2020

Software and Technologies

Computer Algorithm | X-Radiographs

Reviewed

No

Project Images

Screenshot of WimBO project demonstrating Chain lines
Two example images demonstrating how chain lines - impressions in the paper made during the watermarking process - can be digitally overlaid and analyzed to verify and match the origin and authorship of artworks on paper
Screenshots of digital images of showing watermarks
Digital imaging was used to visualize and enhance watermarks that allowed paper works by Rembrandt and his circle of pupils to be recognized and linked.
Screenshot of WimBO project demonstrating Chain lines Screenshot 2026-06-29 at 9.54.34 AM
Screenshots of digital images of showing watermarks Screenshot 2026-06-29 at 9.55.47 AM