Originals vs. Forgeries: The Significance of White Pigments in Artwork Evaluation

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00023281%3A_____%2F22%3AN0000045" target="_blank" >RIV/00023281:_____/22:N0000045 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://ijcs.ro/public/IJCS-22-109_Sefcu.pdf" target="_blank" >https://ijcs.ro/public/IJCS-22-109_Sefcu.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Originals vs. Forgeries: The Significance of White Pigments in Artwork Evaluation

Original language description

The study presents results obtained during an extensive project dealing with the identification of forgeries of famous Czech painters from the first half of the 20th century – Josef Čapek, Emil Filla, Josef Šíma, Václav Špála and Jan Zrzavý. In art authentication, it is essential to gather enough relevant information from scientific examination of original paintings, because this helps us determine art materials used by a particular artist in a given period. The research focused on white pigments, as they are good markers of the paintings’ date of origin, especially in the period between the 1920s and the 1950s. To identify the materials, we employed non-invasive molecular analysis (Raman spectroscopy) combined with elemental analysis (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy). Using titanium white as an example, we explored the availability and import of this pigment in Czechoslovakia. Czech painters used titanium white with anatase structure rather sparingly, even though it was available on the market at the latest in 1928 and was still used in the 1950s. Rutile has been identified in two artworks from the second half of the 1960s. In addition to traditional white pigments, lead sulphate was also present in the studied artworks. This white pigment has been detected in only a few paintings, suggesting it was not very common. In the Czech milieu, lead sulphate was found exclusively in the paintings from the 1920s and the 1930s. The results obtained through this investigation provide valuable information about the use of different pigments by individual painters. They can serve as comparative data in the process of art authentication.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60500 - Other Humanities and the Arts

Project

<a href="/en/project/VJ01010004" target="_blank" >VJ01010004: The Development of a Strategic Cluster for Effective Instrumental Technological Methods of Forensic Authentication of Modern Artworks</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

International Journal of Conservation Science

ISSN

2067-533X

e-ISSN

2067-8223

Volume of the periodical

2022, 13

Issue of the periodical within the volume

Special Issue 1

Country of publishing house

RO - ROMANIA

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

1473-1484

UT code for WoS article

000905384500007

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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