A real Van Gogh, not a forgery.

While doing research for my presentation I came across an interesting article that described another method used for detecting forgery in the art world.

Garden at Auvers a painting which has been a mystery in the art world for years was shown to indeed belong to Vincent Van Gogh. The painting’s value decreased tremendously after some claimed that it was a forgery. The current owners had bought it for about £5.6m in 1985, and there were no bidders when it was put up for auction 11 years later.

The painting was compared with nine of the 70 works accredited to Van Gogh by scientists at the research laboratory of the Museums of France in Paris. However, since radiation can sometimes heat organic matter which was used by Van Gogh, scientists could not use the lab's synchrotron X-ray source and were not allowed to remove samples from the painting. As an alternative, a technique called microfluorescence was used. A beam of X-rays less than 1 mm wide was used to reveal the spectrum of most of the elements in the pigments. Researchers found that the way in which the paint was applied was also consistent with Van Gogh's style. Contrary to X-ray diffraction methods, microfluorescence does not destroy the surface of the painting. Radiography was used to show that the canvas matched the kind Van Gogh used during his period at Auvers. Lastly, the painting was examined by microscope and the canvas showed markings where Van Gogh had stacked up his paintings on his bed before the oil was completely dry.

Art historians, who are the specialists of Van Gogh, will make the final conclusions about the painting.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2993