Articles & News

The artist insisted he did not paint Standing Male Nude, but three specialists have concluded it is his work.

The painting, The Adoration of the Magi, is believed to date from 1632 to 1633. Scholars had long believed that only copies of the picture had survived, including well-known examples in Gothenburg, Sweden, and St. Petersburg, Russia.

The work had long been in the collection of a family that had no idea it was a genuine Rembrandt, until 2016, when art restorer Antonella di Francesco took it in for repairs after it fell off a wall.

For 70 years, leading art connoisseurs and museum curators were certain this painting was not by Rembrandt hand. But, beginning in 2018, researchers performed a variety of forensic tests on the Allentown Museum’s painting, many of which had never been applied to it before, including infrared reflectography, scanning electron microscopy, and cross-section evaluation. They were able to peer into the “past of the painting,” and prove it was a true Rembrandt.

Forensic science and scholarship have proven nine paintings previously deemed to be fakes by Van Gogh experts to now be acknowledged as genuine Van Goghs. All nine paintings were previously downgraded as fakes by art connoisseurs in the 1980s and 1990s.

This still life in Switzerland’s Reinhart collection was dismissed as a forgery. A painting of a pair of mackerels previously dismissed as a fake may now be accepted as an authentic Van Gogh. The Still Life with Mackerels and Tomatoes is at the Oskar Reinhart “Am Römerholz” Collection in Winterthur, near Zurich.

With the aid of independent forensic examination, including dendrochronological analysis, research now positions the present painting as the earlier and original painting, from which all other known examples were based, and it was likely executed three to six years after Rubens returned to Antwerp from Rome in 1608. The painting is on view at Sotheby’s London 29 November – 4 December, 2019, where it makes its public exhibition debut for the first time…

A doodle of a man’s head unseen for more than 500 years has helped to persuade experts that a painting in the national museum of Wales is almost certainly a genuine Botticelli. National Museum Cardiff has put on display a painting of a Madonna and child that had for decades been dismissed as a crude copy of Botticelli’s style.

A long-lost painting by 13th century Italian master Cimabue that was found in the kitchen of an elderly French woman was sold for 24 million euros ($26.6 million), more than four times the pre-auction estimate, auction Acteon house said. Forensic analysis convinced the experts the painting was real: worm holes in the wood matched with another wood panel painting by the artist.

“This Van Dyck discovery is an especially important one and unequivocally proves the value of this innovative use of digital technology to share and grow knowledge,” Andrew Ellis, Art UK’s director, told the Guardian. This marks the first major discovery from the free-to-use online forum’s hive mind, which considers input from “art detectives” including museum staff, art history scholars, and amateur enthusiasts.

A mysterious portrait of an unknown woman has been identified as a rare depiction of a young Elizabeth I projecting power, confidence and suitability for marriage. The discovery was announced by the auction house Bonhams, which said the California owners of the painting had no idea who the sitter was until they had it cleaned. The procedure revealed the picture had been overpainted, probably in the 19th century. Andrew McKenzie, the director of the auction house’s old masters department, called it an “important and exciting” discovery.

‘Lost’ Caravaggio Painting Worth $170 Million Bought Before Auction..forensic analysis of paint pigments., X-rays and cleaning revealed that the attic painting was authentic and had underwent many revisions with “lots of retouching,” which experts also see as a sign of the authenticity of the painting and not a forgery or copy,

A painting experts claim is a long-lost second version of Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes (circa 1607), discovered in a French attic in 2014, will not be hitting the auction block this week after all. In the eleventh hour, Marc Labarbe Auctions in Toulouse, France, cancelled the planned June 27 auction after it received a private offer that was too good for the owners to pass up.

Recent cases demonstrate the role of forensic science in the authentication of fine art. Paintings by Botticelli and van Gogh, the authenticity and attribution of which had previously been called into question, have been authenticated with the help of X-ray imaging, pigment testing, and infrared analysis…

Leonardo da Vinci‘s Salvator Mundi will be included in the catalogue for the Louvre’s forthcoming Leonardo da Vinci blockbuster exhibition with a confirmed attribution and a new date, placing it closer to 1510 than 1500, as it was initially dated.

French painter Eugène Delacroix did many preparatory works for his 1834 masterpiece, “Women of Algiers in Their Apartment.” One of these preliminary paintings disappeared in 1850 after it was sold to French diplomat Charles-Edgar de Mornay, with whom Delacroix traveled to Algeria with in 1832.

Ben van Beneden, director of Antwerp’s Rubenshuis, has now declared Portrait of a Young Girl, possibly Clara Serena Rubens to be authentic, and is including it at the institution’s upcoming exhibition “Rubens in Private: the Master Portrays his Family.”

It has been reported that the appraisers at Sotheby’s London relied on certain clues to authenticate painting and attribute to Peter Paul Rubens himself. For example, Rubens had painted this old lady before, and there were examples of Rubens work with the old women at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Lichtenstein museum.

Some in the art world may not know that the 500-year old masterpiece painting Salvator Mundi (“Savior of the World”) by Leonardo da Vinci that recently sold for nearly half a billion dollars is imperfect. The work with a shady history was damaged and heavily repainted and then restored.

New imaging technology has carefully reconstructed a never-before-seen Picasso painting that the artist covered beneath one of his most famous pieces more than 100 years ago.

Journalist Settles Libel Lawsuit with Art Restorer     Read Fine Arts Investigations original article     Journalist Patrick Bahners has settled his part of a libel lawsuit with Canadian art restorer Peter Paul Biro who alleged Bahners published untrue...

FEDERAL JUDGE DENIES NEW YORKER MAGAZINE'S MOTION TO DISMISS ART EXPERT'S DEFAMATION LAWSUIT *Magazine's key source denied a motion *Plaintiff to add more defendants *Federal Judge says article is "capable of defamatory meaning". *$20-Million ruling comes two weeks...

“What’s in a Name?” Peter Paul Biro v. Condé Nast for Defamation Read: Article on Biro from the Center for Art Law   Date: May 20, 2013 By Irina Tarsis, Esq. “Sticks and stones may break my bones But names will never hurt me.” 19th Century English nursery rhyme ...

Paul Biro NPR Interview Paul discusses the need for fine art collectors to properly authenticate the works in their collections...   N.Y. Art Dealer Faces Charges In Forgery Case Long Island art dealer Glafira Rosales is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on...

The Lost Salvator Mundi was recently authenticated as the work of Leonardo da Vinci will go on display at the National Gallery in November.