[Евгений]

History, goals and opportunities tehnologicheskgo study works of art.
(Yuri Grönberg)

One of the key problems of development of Russian art market is the problem of establishing the authenticity of works. Birth in Russia civilized market relations, joining the world community entails the emergence of new institutions that meet the requirements of the international community, often inflated in relation to the Russian art because of the frequent lack of convincing information about the origin of things and the numerous scandals involving fake.
Its goal - to provide a comprehensive examination and evaluation of works of Russian art, the necessary and sufficient for the insurance of private collections. The Laboratory of Art Consulting was examined and certified by the British insurance market, underwriters Lloyds. On the history, purpose and possibilities of technological expertise says the director of the laboratory, the author of numerous books and publications on the history of painting technology, Dr Habil Jurij Grönberg.

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The product of easel painting - painting in the broadest sense - is a set of materials, manufacturing operations and creative initiative of the painter in the role of the carrier of a specific idea, which he materializes. Therefore, the basis of any examination of how art criticism, and technology are the answers to the questions: what? when? where? Who? and how?

However, even today, most art experts, while remaining within the traditional museum attribution, bases his conclusion on the authenticity, time or place of establishment of works of art, its author, only on an assessment of the artistic side of the work. Using the methodology of comparative stylistic analysis, personal experience and intuition, these experts, responding to questions - when? where? or who? But when divided by what and how, in image and material, the creative result, the amount of means and methods by which this result is achieved, the area of technology, that is the active component of the creative process of painting, remains out of sight of the expert.


Fakes
The world of art is limitless. Works of art scattered throughout countless museums and private collections. And in almost every meeting has its masterpieces. And if they do not, then under the picture of an unknown master, or under an old copy of the label appears, connecting a blade with the name of Raphael or Rembrandt, or Rokotoff Briullov.

This case is not without falsification, The increasing size and exciting new and emerging field of art.

In the middle of the XVI century, Leopold Wilhelm of Austria acquired 68 fakes Durer, considering them as originals. In the XVII century, has undergone massive fraud Dutch and Italian painting. When the forgery was discovered, the Amsterdam magistrate appointed for the trial 50 experts, half of them recognized the paintings are genuine, and others - announced their counterfeit. In the XVIII century forged by Dutch genre painter of XVII century, in the XIX century they forged along with paintings by Flemish masters. With the emergence of demand for works by artists of modern times has increased the number of forgeries of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionists. After them came the turn of Matisse, Picasso and other masters. The widespread in our time has become the fabrication works of Russian artists abroad XIX - XX centuries, and especially by Russian avant-garde.

How to protect the art market from all sorts of fraud? Does today's science is the means to scientifically substantiate the judgments about the authenticity of works, the reliability of attributions?


Connoisseurs
About a century ago among the connoisseurs of art arose previously unknown type of professional, so-called expert. Moving from country to country, from the museum tour, an expert in making a specialty of the attribution of works of art. Visual memory and produced by intuition allowed connoisseur do not always infallible, but usually quite accurate conclusion about the authenticity and authorship of a work.

In conclusion, it is all just a connoisseur of his authority. Experts believe, whether right or wrong. His name determines the price of the painting, is a guarantee for the buyer. This expert is not obliged to substantiate its conclusion.

Meanwhile, a spate of stories about fraud in the arts suggests that experts, limited to only the style and external features paintings, intuition can be ineffective in relation to the masterfully executed imitations.

Dr. Bredius, a recognized authority, an expert on Dutch painting, this painting is called first-class product of Vermeer's Delft. Ten years later, it blew one of the biggest scandals in the history of art. Recall that in the late 20-ies of the XX century, many museum professionals have come to believe that an intuitive method is not the surest way to insure the museums and art market from non-genuine paintings. Even then, the subjective evaluations made by experts, attracting more and more protests and distrust of Directors of major European museums. In this case it is not always talked about deliberate falsifications. before us a picture Levitsky. Bernard Bernson, which described not only as one of the best, but as the most successful expert, admitted that he studied at the Louvre paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, for forty years and for fifteen years, several times changed his opinion of them. All make mistakes.

In 1930, in the pages of the German magazine «Die Kunstauktion» a discussion on the goals, challenges and opportunities for artistic expertise, which was attended by museum directors, art historians, experts, art dealers. And although some participants felt that expertise necessary evil which can not be replaced, but true to their concept of an expert individual experts have denied any possibility of control over their working methods, the prevailing opinion was that since the examination is considered to be scientific research, it can give no more than the existing level of science, but it should not and fall below that level. And the only way to improve the reliability of expert authors of this point of view seen in the application of natural science research methods of painting.

However, after decades of technological research, gradually occupied its rightful place in the research activities of the major art museums and science centers, remained virtually untapped in the expert work.


Technological Expertise
Admittedly, the technological features of easel painting has recently been evident only in the most general terms. But due to held in the past half-century technological research products themselves, it became clear that the use of materials and technological methods of constructing the picture, there are certain regularities and specific features, characteristic of the works of certain periods, national, and local schools, individual artists. Today we can talk about the typical traits inherent in each structural element of the picture - based, ground, pattern, pigment layer - and the existence of canonical forms of the most picturesque of the process, typical of some art schools and epochs, it is about the characteristics that define possible in a narrow temporal and regional specificity within the technology works in general.

Experience shows that knowledge of these laws makes quite an objective examination and follow-attribution more accurate. This is especially important that the area of intuitive in the definition of the various phenomena of intellectual human activities increasingly recede from the requirement of reasonable assurance and assessment. And it is clear that the lack of the necessary technological features in a painting attributed to a particular time, school or master, can speak of the incompatibility of the work with its existing or doing attribution.

Thus, scientifically based answer to the question how did the product, allows a qualitatively different level to say when, where, and in some cases, and who created it.

What is the reliability of the conclusions of technological expertise?

The results of technological research is absolutely objective, which determine the material picture, for example, the composition of pigments or binder of the paint layer or soil. But it shows their chemical composition on the establishment or the authenticity of the work itself? And it turns out that the end result of examination is completely dependent only on the competence of the expert: on its ability to correctly interpret the data.

Hence, as in any examination, in the end it is all about the professionalism of the expert. The only difference is that the professionalism in this case is not based on subjective feelings and intuition and is based on a logical understanding of correspondence received during the research work expertized accurate laboratory data with objective data obtained under identical conditions in the study of original paintings by the same master, the time or school.

Laboratory analysis of each structural element of the paintings gathered by the current technical information allows to state with varying degrees of validity of judgments about the origin of expertized works.

Already a basis picture - its material, the structure (type of wood, fiber fabrics, the composition of the metal), structural features, a possible the difference in its parts, modification of the original format, and so on. - Allows presumably attributed to the product of a particular time or place of creation.

Primer painting - its structure, composition and color are objectively demonstrate the time and place of work is created, it can be attributed to one region or another, art school, or, conversely, indicate its incompatibility with the product of a master or a school. Investigation of soil due to the inherent characteristics of its components dating back - one of the main and indispensable aspects of technological expertise, in many cases is decisive in its conclusions.

Author's drawing, if the identification, showing the progress of work on the painting, makes it possible to judge the author's performance of authenticity or origin of the product. Comparison of the detected image with a pattern of original works of masters, with his graphic works of the author expands the possibilities of establishing a picture.

Pigment layer - its composition and structure - the most fully reflects the specific choice of materials and techniques inherent in certain periods, schools and individual artists. After it had been subject to some regularity in the use of pigments, binders and finished colors, having, like soil, dating back symptoms, it became possible on the basis of their identification in conjunction with the identified characteristics of the remaining structural elements of the picture, saying not only when and where it was created under investigation product, but also suggested its author, or to deny him membership in the studied works.

To date, well-known speaker and a time frame on a range of pigments classical paintings were known previously unknown, but is used in the past, pigments known dates of discovery and commercial production of pigments of modern times, known group of pigments that are open and spread at the beginning and middle of XX century. Finally, substantial information on the characteristic set of pigments that were used at different times in various national schools and selected the most outstanding masters of painting.

Binder in paint and soil, as well as pigments, also remained unchanged. Starting with the second third of the XX century, in oil paint does not begin to add the previously used resin and wax, and previously known resins used in the new capacity or new proportions. But even if the paint layer does not contain tar, and consists only of oil, the study of its physico-chemical parameters (state oil matrix, the direction of polymerization, and so on.) Gives an indication of the actual age of the work, that took, it aging - he was a natural or artificial. An important milestone in the evolution of painting techniques was the use of synthetic adhesives. In the 1930's were invented alkyd, acrylic and vinyl polymers and are known accurate data production on the basis of their art paints abroad. Since the late 50's - early 60-ies of XX century synthetic materials began to be applied to domestic production of decorative paints, they have become part of the picturesque practice. Specific time frames are used and different kinds of glue painting - gouache and watercolors, tempera binder (including so-called synthetic tempera, often used to falsify the graphic works of Russian avant-garde).

With all this information, the method developed by research and experience gained in the course of technological expertise it is possible to significantly narrow the scope of execution of unknown or disputed paintings.


Technological research and technological expertise
Technological study of paintings done in two directions.

Problems associated with the study's method of work of the artist, with a master hand, changes in the product during its creation, during the subsequent existence or possible restoration are addressed through a set of methods, non-destructive and works based on the use of visible, ultraviolet, infrared and X-ray regions of electromagnetic spectrum.

Problems associated with determining the time and place of work is created, its authenticity, calling for studies of internal structure and materials basis, soil, drawing, paint layer (the composition of pigments and binder), are solved in the laboratory and examines the work with microsamples using complex methods of microchemical analysis and physico-chemical instrumental methods.