1. An image inspection apparatus for inspecting an image under testing for defects by comparison of the test image to a reference image, said apparatus comprising: an image division unit operative to create for the test image and the reference image a plurality of frequency division images as divided into frequency regions; a model parameter identification unit operative to use two-dimensional linear prediction models of the test image and the reference image to identify more than one model parameter for each of said frequency division images; a model image generation unit operative to create a model image based on the model parameter thus identified; and a comparison processor unit operative to perform inspection by comparing said model image to any one of the test image and the reference image with respect to each said frequency division image.