¹⁴C in art history – carbon footprint

 The carbon dating and lead dating mean a set of radioactive dating methods. Thay have been used to verify authenticity of paintings, and thus public appraisal of the rendering talents of copyists, imitators, and forgers diminished with the improvement of technologies. Talents of the Dutch forger Han van Meegeren (1889-1947) who painted ‘just discovered unknown works’ of Vermeer were appreciated in his times, in both the artistic and deceptive terms, as equally skilled as those of the Masters; he was selling his paintings at high prices after he was unmasked as a counterfeiter. Van Meegeren created ‘new’ Vermeer’s, Frans Hals’ and other masters’ paintings on old canvases from the old times and applying similar chemicals. Investigations made after his death with the use of the radioactive lead dating method revealed small differences in isotope composition of lead. It was caused by additional trace elements that were different in the 17^th century than those that are present in contemporary lead pigments. Other investigations, including a gas chromatography method confirmed the forgery. One may ponder why talented people like van Meegeren preferred to forge and sign masterpieces instead of developing their own style, and whether they would still liked to do it having a computer as a tool, when computers make possible to do the task even without so great manual dexterity. Han van Meegeren and many other producers of counterfeits have been selling their works for millions until they were recognized as frauds; then the buyers felt they lost millions while still being the owners of these so called original works.

Cameron Grimes “Carbon”