Over the years, I've been asked to examine many things under my microscope. However, few have piqued my interest as much as an inquiry asking if I could analyze an artist's signature on an old painting. The painting, a portrait of a young girl, was beautifully executed and signed by Francisco Goya. The owners had no provenance attached to the painting, and all involved were a bit incredulous that Goya could have actually created the artwork.
True, Goya had done many commissioned portraits in addition to his darker, often more political and socially satirical images. If this was an unknown Goya original, it was probably worth millions. Which is why the owner decided a more prudent approach would be to have an art forensic expert embark on a full scientific analysis. Fortunately they were kind enough to keep me in the loop.
Scientists have an array of sophisticated and sensitive techniques to analyze paintings, microscopy being just one of them. There's also ultraviolet and X-ray imaging and infrared scanning. These are non-invasive techniques that can peer through the paint and see the preliminary drawings and reworks and even reveal information about the age and the origin of the materials used.
Micro-Raman spectroscopy is a powerful technique that can analyze the pigments used in the painting. The crystalline components in mineral-based pigments, which were exclusively used until the mid 1800s, have their own unique fingerprint. For example, the blue pigment used in Goya's era would give a scattering pattern identical to that of the mineral lapus lazuli used to create the pigment. Synthetic blues appeared later and would give a different scattering pattern.The experiments were run, the data was analyzed, and a conclusion was reached. The painting was most likely genuine. Analysis had also revealed hidden messages, signatures and drawings that Goya included in many of his paintings.
I suppose it is merely a coincidence that the first piece of artwork I purchased (over 40 years ago) was an etching by none-other than Francisco Goya. Number 29 from his "Los Caprichos" series hangs in my studio today, no doubt keeping an eye on me as I write this.
