Detecting recent forgeries of Impressionist and Pointillist paintings with high-precision radiocarbon dating

Abstract

We report on the capacity of AMS radiocarbon dating to play a decisive role in fighting against the illicit trade in art. In the framework of a current police investigation, where previously unseen paintings were discovered in a restorer's workshop by the French Central Office for the Fight against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC), we demonstrated that two paintings alleged to be by Impressionist and Pointillist artists had in fact been painted recently. Our results were based on the excess of ¹⁴C derived from atmospheric nuclear tests detected in the fibers used to make the canvas. By combining AMS ¹⁴C absolute dating and the fine precision of the post-bomb atmospheric calibration curve, we established a clear chronological context for the production of these forgeries. ¹⁴C content of the fibers revealed that the canvases were manufactured in 1956-1957 or, more likely, after 2000. As a result, absolute dating proves unambiguously that the Impressionist and Pointillist paintings are forgeries since they were not painted at the beginning of the 20th century by the alleged artists, who died in the 1940s.

Keywords: Art forgeries; Forensics; Painting; Radiocarbon ((14)C) dating.