"That was actually quite surprising for me because Goshun’s painting is more realistic," Gao said. To test if this value had something to do with tree recognisability in art, the researchers ...

therefore it’s not possible to draw strong conclusions. The authors studied a series of works by abstract painter Mondrian that depict the same tree but in increasingly less realistic ways.

It described the way he thought that trees branch. Though it was a brilliant insight that helped him to draw realistic landscapes, Leonardo’s rule breaks down for many types of trees.

Researchers analysed trees in art from several parts of the world ... can be identified as trees if a realistic value for α is used, researchers say. “Abstract paintings with realistic α ...

Without realistic scaling ... great art and science pick out the same essential features of trees is satisfying beyond what art or science could accomplish alone.