Authentication & Attribution
IDENTIFICATION
We work with curators, collectors, conservation scientists and academics to provide evidence for the authentication of previously unattributed work. Our experienced conservators conduct a thorough analysis of the artwork and apply our in-depth knowledge of materials, eras, methods, brushstrokes, composition and more. We share our findings with an expert on the artist for formal authentication. To see our work in action, watch BBC television series ‘Britain’s Lost Masterpieces’, where Simon Gillespie is the conservation expert.
COUNTERFEITS AND FORGERIES
Our observation, analysis and expertise sometimes reveal that a painting is not what it purports to be, and is a deliberate counterfeit or forgery. Sometimes the giveaway is the materials used, or what we find underneath a picture if an x-ray or IR analysis is carried out. If we find that a work is a fake, we can produce a report outlining our findings that may support the owner in any recovery efforts, if the work was recently acquired.