Cultural heritage digital twin: modeling and representing the visual narrative in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

Abstract

In this paper, Artificial Intelligence/Knowledge Representation methods are used for the digital modeling of cultural heritage elements. Accordingly, the new concept of digital cultural heritage twin is presented as composed of a physical component and an immaterial component of the cultural entity. The former concerns the physical aspects, i.e. style, name of the artist, execution time, dimension, etc. The latter represents the emotional and intangible aspects transmitted by the entity, i.e. emotions, thoughts, opinions. In order to digitally model the physical and immaterial components of the twin, the Narrative Knowledge Representation Language has been formally introduced and described. It is particularly suitable for representing the immaterial aspects of the cultural entity, as it is capable of modeling in a simple but rigorous and efficient way complex situations and events, behaviours, attitudes, etc. As an experiment, NKRL has been adopted for representing some of the most relevant intangible items of the visual narrative underlying the hidden painting that lies beneath the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) image painted by Leonardo Da Vinci on the same poplar panel. Real-time application of the resulting knowledge base opens up novel possibilities for the development of virtual objects, chatbots and expert systems, as well as the definition of semantic search platforms related to cultural heritage.