Wired is running a lengthy expose about emerging computational methods for evaluating the authenticity of supposed art masterpieces. The article focuses on mathematician Dan Rockmore, who has developed a procedure to expose paintings attributed to famous artists as dubious claims. Through a meticulous process of scanning each image into a digital form pixel by pixel, he creates a statistical profile for each painting. In theory, this will translate into a homogeneous "mathematical signature" represented in each painting by a given artist. Elements considered for determining a unique painting style include characteristic brush stroke direction, thickness and length.

Read the article. (Wired - "The Rembrandt Code")