ART FORGERIES: How to Identify Fake Paintings Using Science | Art Forensics

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoyed learning about the different methods used in detecting art forgeries!

[@burhanozturk7326]

Bravo dear Maria, all topics that you explained are very interesting. When I watch you I am getting illuminated...👏👏👏

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

Thank you! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed my explanation of these topics!

[@domnicadzitac1939]

It was so lovely to get a recap on this topic! Very fascinating as always. I love the videos, keep up the good work!

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

Thank you! I'm thrilled to see you're still interested in this topic!

[@ioanbaias5479]

Great video!

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

Thank you!

[@yethu-itknowledgesharing884]

Thank so much, help me a lot

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

I'm glad you found this helpful!

[@tweakthompson4993]

great video

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

Thank you! 🙂

[@raynali6098]

There is a privately-owned museum in Shanghai located near the Lujiazui area that has been accused of having more forgeries than real artefacts. The museum has a permanent collection consisting of ancient jade, porcelain, and ceramic figurines, many of which are extremely ‘precious’ and cannot be found even in the national museums. Thus, many museum professionals question the authenticity of these objects because in their opinion, it is extremely difficult for a private museum to acquire these artefacts legally. Many professionals claim that much of the private museum’s Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelains to be fake on the basis of the decoration techniques, but they do not yet have any scientific evidence. I think the public would want more insights into this forgery controversy, and the scientific methods can definitely help. But of course, the private museum in question is restricting professional access to its collections, which I think is an indication that the owners are not confident / comfortable enough with the inquiries.

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

This is so interesting! I hadn't heard of this museum before. It would definitely be interesting to use some scientific methods to analyze those artworks to see if they are fake or real. But I can see why the museum would restrict access to the collections. It wouldn't look good if it was found that some of those artworks are forgeries. This museum reminds me of a French museum where they discovered that more than half of the artworks were forgeries: www.npr.org/2018/04/29/606919098/french-museum-discovers-more-than-half-its-collection-is-forged

[@ana-mariaradu8227]

I heard about some notorious art forgers such as Beltracchi or Han Van Meegeren, but I remember reading about something a bit unexpected - forgers trying to sell fake furniture. Antique dealers have been for years selling fake pieces of furniture, including chairs, saying they were coming from the Palace of Versailles and belonged to a former countess. I am interested to see how scientific methods, especially the ones liked to aging could be used in spotting fake furniture.

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

People forge all sorts of artworks, not just paintings. And antique furniture can be quite expensive so I can see why forgers would find that area profitable. Regarding the aging-related methods we can use in spotting fake furniture, we can use both radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology. Wood contains lots of carbon so radiocarbon dating would be perfect in dating furniture. And because it's made of wood, we could also use dendrochronology by looking at the tree rings on the furniture and comparing those to the patterns from the tree ring databases.

[@1239848]

I don't know a lot about art forgeries but here's one: Red Picture with Horses by forger Wolfgang Beltracchi. I know Beltracchi and the painting from the movie Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery. Beltracchi had a quite successful forgery career, only until he misused titanium dioxide in Red Picture with Horses by the painter Heinrich Campendonk that he was sentenced to jail.

[@ansenzhi-hanlai6407]

nice

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

Yes, Red Picture with Horses is what got Beltracchi in trouble. Until he sold that painting he had quite a successful career, but science put an end to it. Did you also know that this painting was the most expensive "Campendonk" ever sold? This shows just how good Beltracchi was at forging art.

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

Ansen, it's great to see that you're still interested in heritage science! 🙂

[@ansenzhi-hanlai6407]

@@MariaBaiasHeritage of course! just here to support my friends too ^_^

[@umno3472]

Thank you for the wonderful video. A case of forged art that I've heard of is not about a specific work of art but rather an artist-- Michelangelo. Although he is known today as the most famous Renaissance sculptor, he actually was a forger before becoming well-known. He produced marble figures that looked like Greco-roman antique sculptures, which were popular during his time. He would've been able to get away with it since scientific methods were not advanced enough to detect artificial aging/ forgery.

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

That's so interesting! It looks like it's common among artists to start their careers as art forgers. Some forgers, after they become famous for forging art, then they start creating art and selling it under their own names.

[@luiscuixara4622]

@@MariaBaiasHeritage Implicit in your answer, or comment, to 'um no' is surprise at learning about Michelangelo's nefarious side racket of inserting his "copies" of Greek/Roman sculptural antiquities (he really was aping a style, and not 'copying' any extant work) into a hot market for those sculptures. I am, in turn, surprised at your surprise, which makes me question the depth of your knowledge as pertains to the general subject of your video. I am, by no means, an expert on art fakery, but have a layman's interest in what I consider to be a fascinating area, both in art history and human nature, and I've known of M's contribution to it for decades. It's pretty famous and widely covered. Perhaps it just slipped your mind? I don't mean to challenge your qualifications exactly, but it's rather frustrating to see so many videos, especially when it comes to art (?!), in which the presenters seem to have refreshed on the subject shortly before the presentation; some relevant clippies are inserted, and there's the show.

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

@Luis Cuixara I'm a scientist working on modern art forgeries, I'm not an art historian and I never claimed to have all the knowledge an art historian does. Through my scientific work I'm constantly learning more about art and I'm always happy to learn new things.

[@luiscuixara4622]

@@MariaBaiasHeritage OK. Happy.

[@Narwal88]

"...especially if the painting is authentic, we prefer to use non-invasive techniques..." How do you know if the painting is authentic? I mean, that's the whole point of the invasive technique!

[@denatasterephrem]

Hi Professor. Denat from CH Spring 2021. I really enjoyed watching this video. I haven't heard of a lot of forgeries but here is one. One famous art forgery is the forgery of "The Supper at Emmaus (1937)" by Han Van Meegeren . Han Van Meegeren was an artist himself but was highly criticized for his work. At his time, he was considered a mediocre artist and most critics didn't like his work for it's supposed lack of originality. While most forgers happen for the sake of making money, Han Van Meegeren seems to have made forgery as a revenge on his critics.

[@MariaBaiasHeritage]

Hi Denat, that's so cool that you mentioned Han Van Meegeren's forgeries. I work on his forgeries in a collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, where I use the NMR-MOUSE to analyze his forgeries and compare them to the authentic paintings.