Art history: artists, movements and museums

Autoportrait de Renoir en 1876, Harvard Art Museums
How to recognize Renoir's signature? Variants, dates and forgeries
Renoir's Signature Guide: spelling, dates, location, forgery and controls necessary for serious authentication. Read more...
La Jeune Fille souriante autrefois attribuée à Vermeer
Why were the fake Vermeers so convincing?
Why did the fake Vermeers deceive museums and experts? Ancient canvas, credible pigments, bakelite, cracks and scholarly expectations explain Van Meegeren's success - then his failure in the face of... Read more...
La Femme à la balance de Vermeer
How do you authenticate a Vermeer? Pigments, canvas, provenance and imagery
Authenticating a Vermeer requires the convergence of pigments, support, imagery, gesture and provenance. Discover what each method proves, its limits and the lessons of Van Meegeren, the Leiden Collection and... Read more...
Han van Meegeren photographié en 1945
Han van Meegeren: the forger who deceived Vermeer's experts
Han van Meegeren invented fake Vermeers capable of satisfying the expectations of experts. From The Last Supper to Emmaus to the painting acquired by Göring, this is how his fraud... Read more...
Une dame debout au virginal de Vermeer, œuvre signée sur le côté de l’instrument
How to recognize Vermeer's signature? Shapes, locations and fakes
IVMeer, IVM, related letters or unsigned work: Vermeer inscriptions vary. This guide compares shapes and locations published by museums, then explains why a signature alone can never authenticate a painting. Read more...
Rembrandt gravant à la fenêtre dans son autoportrait de 1648
States, prints and signatures: how to recognize a Rembrandt engraving?
Plate condition, print quality, paper, watermark, signature and provenance: the complete method for examining an engraving attributed to Rembrandt. Read more...
Signature RHL van Rijn et date 1632 sur une œuvre de Rembrandt
Rembrandt's signature: monograms, variants and dating
How to recognize and date Rembrandt's signature? From the RHL monogram to the first name Rembrandt, with the limits of authentication by registration alone. Read more...
Gustav Klimt photographié en 1912, pour une enquête sur la fausse attribution de Golden Tears
Is "Golden Tears" by Klimt? Where does this attribution come from?
Golden Tears does not belong to Gustav Klimt’s documented oeuvre. Available sources attribute it to Anne Marie Zylberman, but the original remains poorly documented. Read more...
Détail comparatif pour authentifier une œuvre attribuée à Vincent van Gogh
Real or fake Van Gogh? Attributions and authentication
A signature is not enough to authenticate a Van Gogh. Provenance, letters, pigments, X-rays, the Wacker affair and the Montmajour case explained. Read more...
Photographie authentifiée de Vincent van Gogh à 19 ans, janvier 1873
The real photograph of Van Gogh: the only authenticated portrait
Which is the real photograph of Vincent van Gogh? Discover the authenticated 1873 portrait, the confusion with Theo and clues for identifying fakes. Read more...
Signature et authentification de Claude Monet
Claude Monet's signature: evolution, examples and authentication
Monet’s signature: verified museum examples, variations, the estate stamp and a cautious method for documenting a work without reaching conclusions too quickly. Read more...