Multimedia for Art ReTrieval (M4ART)

Abstract

The prototype for an online Multimedia for Art ReTrieval (M4ART) system is introduced, that provides entrance to the digitized collection of the National Gallery of the Netherlands (the Rijksmuseum). The current online system of the Rijksmuseum is text-based and requires expert knowledge concerning the work searched for, else it fails in retrieving it. M4ART extends this system by allowing the user to query with an example image that can be uploaded, or to select it by browsing the collection. The global color distribution of the example image, and perhaps a set of texture features, are then extracted and compared with those of the images in the collection. Thus, the collection can be queried based on text as well as content-based features. Moreover, the matching process of M4ART can be scrutinized. With this feature, M4ART not only integrates the means to give expert and lay equal access to the system, it also lets the user understand the system's inner workings. These qualities make M4ART unique in it its ability to let the user access, enhance, and retrieve the knowledge available in digitized art collections.