Forgery is an enormous problem in the art world. It has been estimated that 40–50% of paintings sold worldwide are fakes. Is it a Constable, or a con? Is that Monet worth the money? When a masterpiece can cost millions, you need to be sure.
In the past, the only way to tell a fake from the real thing was by eye. Experts would judge a work based on colour, brushstrokes, style and, as often as not, gut feeling. Predictably, this made for a fairly patchy method, and as a result the art market is still awash with thousands of undiscovered fakes. Fortunately, advances in chemistry, particularly spectroscopy, mean that experts can now use science to judge works of art.
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