Policie České republiky – Kriminalistický ústav
9
Popisky – fyzikální chemie, zkoumání obrazů
Labels – physical chemistry, examination of paintings
1. Counterfeit signed „Kodet“
2. To be able to express their opinion on the genuineness of the material examined, the experts need to have reference material in hand, e.g. paints, brushes, pallets, or other paintings – verified originals made by the particular artist.
3. Box with paints seized as a reference material in a workshop of a counterfeiter.
4. Brushes seized from counterfeiters
5. Canvas seized in a house search. It is an old canvas from which the original painting was removed. It was treated in a special way, there are holes from nails which held it in a frame visible on the edges. It was treated so that a counterfeit of an older work could be painted onto it.
6. Canvas samples from a house search to be compared with seized paintings
7. Collection of samples of painting pigments
The only destructive method of painting examination is an extraction of a miniature sample of paint (of the size smaller than a pinhead) from selected parts of the painting. The collected samples are examined under a microscope meaning that the structure of the whole paint layer can be mapped. Using an electron microscope, chemical composition of paint pigments is analysed. The experts examine if the paint used in the examined painting corresponds the chemical composition of the paint the painter used in their original work.
8. Pigment sample collected from a painting preserved in a casting compound. To make a stratighraphy of the layers (cross section of the sample) visible, a polished section is made. This sample is prepared to be examined using electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy or Raman spectroscopy.
9. Photograph of a polished section of a stratigraphy of layers made by an optical microscope. There are three paint layers visible: top yellow, middle yellow and white with coloured grains and low white. Magnified 200x.
10. Often, also the painter´s signature is examined. Handwriting experts are the ones to verify the signature. However, they must be provided with reference material. They consider individual topographic parameters (slope, length and height of the signature, etc.) and the writing technique of individual letters.
11. Counterfeit signed “Zrzavý“
12. Counterfeit signed “Kupka“
13. X-ray examination helps experts map the history of the paining. They might find out e.g. whether the painting was overpainted. Very often the counterfeiters buy old paintings of no value and then overpaint them or they even make use of the original painting.
14. X-ray image of a painting where the original picture is visible underneath the new one – two boats (original paining)
15. Kupka´s Paining En Dégradés (Verticales)
Sold for 22 Million
Inserted by ČTK
26/03/2009 14:15
Prague – A picture painted by František Kupka called En Dégradés (Verticales) was sold in today´s auction for CZK 22 million. The starting price was a million and a half lower. So, the painting became the second most expensive work of art sold in an auction in the Czech Republic. The auction record remains the price of the Kupka´s painting Élevation IV. which was sold for CZK 22.1 in 2007.
Among the first ten works of art sold at the highest price, there is also another Kupka´s paining - Abstract Composition of 1925 – 1930 which was sold two years ago for the price of CZK 13.4 million. At that time, the starting price of CZK 8.5 million was unusually high as the selling price of Kupka´s canvases in the Czech Republic did not exceed CZK 5 million. The price of CZK 13.4 million two years ago was a record. After the auction today, it has dropped to the sixth position.
The Kupka´s En Dégradés (Verticales) was created in 1935. A gallerist, Louis Carré, bought it directly from the painter in Paris and it was put up for the auction by a private collector. The painting is one of those belonging to the series of Vertical and Diagonal Planes and has been exhibited many times (text abridged)
(https://www.archiweb.cz/n/domaci/kupkuv-obraz-zhrouceni-vertikal-se-prodal-za-22-milionu)