What do luthiers look at? An eye tracking study on the identification of meaningful areas in historical violins

Abstract

Stylistic analysis of artworks is an important practice in the field of Cultural Heritage. Over time, significant stylistic characteristics have been identified for paintings and sculptures, but not for historical musical instruments. Even if various stylistic features of instruments are well known, their importance for attributing an instrument to its maker remains unclear. In this work, we propose a study carried out in relation to 34 luthiers’ examinations recorded with an eye tracker. Our goal was to find which regions of a violin are most closely observed by experts during the attribution process. The retrieved data were used to create a multimedia presentation that shows a violin in the same way in which luthiers look at it. This application can be employed for knowledge dissemination (e.g,. inside museums) or as an educational tool for students of violin making schools. The experiments were carried out on a series of images of 17th-18th century historical violins kept at the “Museo del Violino” in Cremona (Italy).