Hi! I'm Weixuan Li
I'm an art historian and digital humanist.
I aspire to fuse humanities research and advanced information technology.
Weixuan Li
I always try to find creative ways to look at early-modern Dutch art through digital lenses
I am a post-doctoral researcher at Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). My current research focuses on using computer vision to analyse paintings of 17th-century domestic interiors. Before joining LUCAS, I conducted my doctoral research employing a spatial perspective to unravel the art and market development in 17th-century Amsterdam (2023). This research is part of the NWO research project: Virtual Interiors as Interfaces for Big Historical Data Research and my part focuses on using space (2D or 3D) as an anchor to align historical evidence to tell a story about the 17th-century Amsterdam and its painters.
My research interests centre around 17th-century Dutch art and market and the spatial, urban, and socio-economical circumstances in which the artworks were created. I am interested in probing the interplay between artistic invention and economic consideration, understanding artists’ choices and behaviors, and using digital means to visualize (2D and 3D) the hidden knowledge within archival sources.
In my last life, I graduated from the dual-masters program in Urban Planning and Transportation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and worked as a senior consultant and transportation economist for the Steer Group in Boston.
When not by my desk reading, writing, or coding, I am likely testing my physical limit. I was a marathons runner in Boston (have done five). After moving to Amsterdam, I picked up kickboxing, boxing and recently cycling.
What I do
My research explores innovative ways to examine, evaluate, and visualize the 17th-century Dutch art and the art market
For instance, my dissertation applies the following three digital approaches:
mapping Historical locations of artists
Geo-translating early modern location descriptions and (deep) mapping painters' workshops
Modeling probate inventories in 3D
Modeling inventories in 3D to understand the domestic space for making and displaying art
Building Social & subject network
Analyzing networks to understand the transmission of ideas and social standings among artists
On-going research
Virtual Interiors project
Other projects
