were employed in [23] as digital signatures of painted
pearls and showed potential to distinguish pearls painted by different
artists. In particular, the pearls in the copy of the panel
Just Judges, made by J. Van der Veken between 1939 and 1951 to
replace the panel stolen in 1934, showed clearly different spatiograms
than those from other panels of the altarpiece. Similar
conclusions were drawn when comparing the spatiograms of the
recent reconstructions by other artists. However, this earlier
analysis in [23] was performed on the old scans of the altarpiece,
with varying resolutions, which may have affected to some
extent the numerical findings. It is important to verify the main
conclusions of this earlier analysis in the light of the new highquality
photographic material. We also go a step further, extending
the study to different panels of the altarpiece and making a
hypothesis that the consistency of the painted pearls could provide
an additional support for the division of hands between the
painters or within the workshop, as well as for detecting possible
areas of former restorations and overpainting campaigns.