The Role of Technical Study and Chemical Analysis on Questions of Attribution and Dating of Paintings and on Easel Painting Conservation Practice: Selected Case Studies

This chapter uses case studies to illustrate the challenges and ambiguities in interpreting technical and historical evidence to determine whether a painting may be categorised as an original or first version, as sketch or preliminary work, contemporary or later copy, pastiche or a forgery, made with the intention to deceive. The introduction of selected novel methods of analysis in the last decades and their impact on the assignment of paintings to these categories is discussed, with an emphasis on collaborative investigations between experts in science, art history and conservation in defining the questions and interpreting the evidence in the case studies. These new methods of technical study have been used to examine the physical history of paintings together with a significant and increasing body of knowledge of artists’ studio practice, painting materials, their use and deterioration provide context for identification of forgeries and makes the task of the forger more difficult.