The Wacker Case: Authentic Or Fake?

The Wacker case, known as one of the most infamous frauds in art history, occurred when the German art dealer Otto Wacker attempted to sell 33 forgeries as authentic Vincent van Gogh paintings in 1927. This case shed a light on the ability of forgers to deceive the general public and art experts alike. However, this case also allowed for the development of new scientific techniques, many based on chemistry, to examine and analyze paintings at the molecular level to determine whether the paintings were authentic or fake (Nelson). Art authenticators determine whether pieces of artwork are real or fake. Their jobs include authenticating works of art and other artifacts using laboratory analysis. They also must have the knowledge of the materials …show more content…
To earn the title of authentic, samples must undergo a myriad of tests. The test used in the Wacker case, mentioned above, consisted of x-raying the canvas of the paintings in question. Art experts know that van Gogh used a type of canvas that contained a different number of horizontal and vertical threads, also known as “asymmetrical” canvas. Art experts could determine the symmetry of the canvas with x-rays. Though x-rays are not the conventional method for testing the authenticity of artwork, x-rays provided the necessary information for this particular case. Invisible to the human eye, x-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation. When an x-ray machine projects radiation onto the paintings, only the materials containing heavy elements absorb it. Radiation passes through the materials containing lighter elements. Unpainted canvas consists of three layers: the ground layer, the thread layer, and the priming layer. The ground layer is the bottom layer on which all other layers sit. There is nothing particularly important about the ground layer in painting, but it comes into play later on with the radiation. The thread layer is the middle layer that consists of the threads of the canvas. A specific number of