Art pieces attribution based on the color frequency analysis and digital prints entropy

The article is focused on studying the correlation between the frequency of colors used by an artist to create works of art and entropy of these works, on the one hand, and their authorship and the period of creation, on the other hand. An overview of methods used to examine artworks in modern expertise centers is given. A less expensive method of art attribution and proof, based on identifying color distribution ranges along with entropy of an artwork's digital prints, is proposed with the consideration of disadvantages of the existing techniques. The hypothesis is tested on art pieces created by Russian and foreign artists in the 17th - 20th centuries. The range of entropy values for artworks and average color frequency in paintings are found for each artist under study. The research shows normal distribution of the paintings' entropy. The dependence of the entropy on the creation period and digital print quality are analyzed as well. The values received show that certain artists used certain color patterns depending on the period of creation. It allows for performing attribution analysis and checking attribution of a particular painting to a particular artist. By the example of Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window by Johannes Vermeer, it is shown how entropy data enables one to attribute a painting to an artist.