Artwork, authenticating

These cave drawings, found in Chauvet Cave in France, have been authenticated by C-14 dating to 30,000-28,000 B.c. It is the oldest known artwork in the world. 

Digital authentication is a new method recently used to detect art forgeries. A high resolution digital scan is made of an artwork under scrutiny. Then a statistical model of an artist is built up from scans of the artist s authentic works. A comparison is made between... 

Sometimes a thorough examination of the artwork can determine authenticity. Forgers may use colors not available during the artist s life. Brushwork, themes, and techniques can be assessed. Unusual materials make a work suspect. Also, the usual methods can be applied to detect a forgery fluorescence, spectroscopy, X-rays, neutron activation analysis, radioactive dating and, more recently, digital analysis. 

The Getty museum in Los Angeles has contracted your services to determine if a Monet they recently received is authentic. What techniques, including sample preparation, etc. would you use to determine the authenticity of this artwork (handle it carefully ) ... 

Geographical Distribution. It should prove very interesting to look at the possible gum sources for an artifact or artwork whose origins are documented. Local occurrence of the specific plant would be no surprise. If the gum is unavailable locally, three conclusions might be implied. First, the artist or school may have had a preference for this particular type of gum, which will be an aid in authenticating other pieces when... 

The fact that very small sample sizes can be investigated is particularly beneficial when only small amounts of sample are available, for instance in forensic science [567,767] and in the application to the study of cultural materials [669]. Current applications include analysis of trace evidence samples in forensic laboratories, evaluation of new composite formulations and authentication and conservation of artworks. 

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