丁香园AV

Deep within 丁香园AV鈥檚 chemistry department, science and art intersect to unravel the dark, but lucrative, underbelly of forgery.

Art forgery is a multi-million-dollar problem in the art world as galleries and collectors snap up what they think are legitimate pieces of work linked to famous painters and their circles.

While they look identical to the naked eye, peering at the fakes on a nano and micro scale can betray even the most seasoned con artist.

鈥淚n looking at forgeries, it really comes down to the fingerprinting, the chemistry behind it,鈥� says chemistry professor Byron Gates. 鈥淭he elements that compose the ink, frame, or canvas, and all the materials underneath will define their signature.鈥�

Gates has partnered with fellow chemistry teaching professor Nabyl Merbouh to create a project that trains students to use forensic equipment, such as electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray florescence spectroscopy instruments, to investigate works of art down to the single molecule scale.

鈥淲e鈥檙e employing a range of really exciting techniques,鈥� says Gates. 鈥淥ne of these tools is the same type of tool used by forensic investigators to diagnose gunpowder residue. This tool can provide a very sensitive measurement of the elemental composition of a sample using non-destructive methods.

鈥淎s you delve into the composition of the inks, there are certain elements that are banned now because they are toxic that you won鈥檛 find in paints today. But you would find them in historical paintings. Even though it looks the same, the fingerprint behind it 鈥� a shade of pink or a shade of white 鈥� it鈥檚 really not the same underneath.鈥�

A trained analytical scientist will be able to quickly notice that the compounds that make up a paint sample don鈥檛 match those of certain eras and locations.

The metals used in frames, the materials that make up a canvas and even stray fabrics shed from an artist鈥檚 frock that get stuck in the paint can be dead giveaways of a forgery to the expert eye.

PASSION PROJECT

For Merbouh, the intersection of art and science has long been a passion.

鈥淭his project actually started a solid 20-25 years ago when I was a young student,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y first scientific advisor started the renovation laboratory in one of the museums in my French university. That鈥檚 how my love of analytical chemistry toward the arts started.鈥�

Merbouh has tapped local artists to help provide students with era-accurate samples and modern recreations to help hone their analytical and investigative skills.

鈥淲e鈥檙e teaching students more than 20 different types of analytical methods and technologies by the time they鈥檙e finished with the curriculum at 丁香园AV,鈥� says Merbouh. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 interesting for them is to actually look at the application of these in the real world. Why not the art world?鈥�

FROM FORGERIES TO FORGING A FUTURE

While a student鈥檚 goal is to identify the signs of a fake work of art, Merbouh and Gates said the skills and equipment used in the project would set them up for a vast spectrum of career opportunities as an analytical scientist, including art restoration, forensic investigation, quality control and agri-tech.

鈥淭he world is your oyster, in terms of jobs,鈥� Gates says.

Undergraduate student Liam Johnson is currently helping Gates and Merbouh develop these techniques and contributing to related research that鈥檚 underway as part of the project.

Like most of us, Johnson says he doesn鈥檛 have the ability to spot a masterful forgery at first glance.
But that changes when he鈥檚 able to put it under the microscope.

鈥淲e鈥檙e taking these high-end instruments and saying, 鈥楬ey, the white in paints nowadays primarily arises from titanium oxide.鈥� But if you look at a lot of these older art pieces, they used lead-based paints to achieve a white hue,鈥� he explains. 鈥淪o if you find a piece of work where the paint contains titanium and you know the original artist wouldn鈥檛 have had access to that kind of paint, there鈥檚 something suspicious.鈥�

Learning how to discern between a Malevich and a malicious knock-off has been a rewarding experience for Johnson.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been really cool,鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淚鈥檝e spent the past four years learning about all these analytical techniques and the scientific method, but now I鈥檓 actually implementing this learning myself and am involved in the research. It鈥檚 been an amazing experience and it鈥檚 definitely something I鈥檓 thankful I鈥檝e gotten involved in.鈥�