AI Recreates Lost 17th Century Velázquez Painting Destroyed in Madrid Fire 300 Years Ago
• In 1734, a fire destroyed 500 artworks in Madrid's Royal Alcázar, including Velázquez’s Expulsion of the Moriscos painting from 1627.
• Artist Fernando Sánchez Castillo used AI software to recreate the lost Velázquez painting 300 years later.
• The AI recreation is based on a description of the painting, a preliminary sketch, and other paintings on the same theme.
• Sánchez collaborated with a student to input textual and visual data into the AI system to generate the new artwork over 100+ hours.
• The project aimed to showcase how AI can contribute to art while still requiring substantial human guidance and decision-making.