New Museum Exhibit Takes A Closer Look at Fakes

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Apr 27th 2010 at 5:01AM

When a fake is discovered the reaction of most museums is to quietly remove it from display and hope nobody notices, and although historically the National Gallery has done just that it's now offering all of its fakes up in a full-on display along with an education on the cutting edge technology used to uncover them. Infrared reflectography, x-rays, pigment analysis, and dendrochronology (a means of dating wood by looking at its rings) all make it more difficult than ever for fakes to get by, but even some experts admit that the work and skill needed to make some of the forgeries is impressive. One of the gallery's researchers, Rachel Billinge, says "Sometimes the faker has gone to such lengths you can respect their techniques – much more so than the originals, churned out in a workshop by some bored apprentice."

The exhibit will be open at the National Gallery from June 30th - September 12th.

Tags: art, exhibit, fake, forgery, gallery, museum, national gallery