A top London art gallery will on Wednesday unveil an exhibition of works that had tricked its own experts, until scientific advances revealed cleverly produced fakes or unexpected treasures.
The new show at the National Gallery — called Close examination: fakes, mistakes & discoveries — displays some 40 pictures aimed at illustrating the challenges faced by leading experts in trying to identify art works.
“This exhibition is about looking closely at paintings as physical objects,” said Betsy Wieseman, cocurator of the exhibition, which runs until September 12.
“It examines the relationship between scientific research and art historical research.” The gallery’s scientific department, which was created in 1934, has used various techniques (infrared, X-rays, electronic miscroscopes) to produce a string of artistic revelations, some welcome but others less so.
One piece on display is Group Portrait, a painting on wood acquired in 1923 and originally thought to be a work from the 15th century.
But clues indicated it had been produced much more recently — there were anachronistic details in the painting and some of its pigments were only used from the 19th century.
“Nothing in this painting is coherent with a painting of the 15th century,” said Ashok Roy, the gallery’s director of scientific research.