We take a look at how to spot the difference between genuine paintings, fakes & forgeries.

The art forgery market is undoubtedly an extremely lucrative one, with admirers and collectors willing to pay big bucks for certain paintings. It’s not just the likes of your Van Gough’s and Picasso’s that you need to watch out for either. After all, how many of us have the cash for an original by one of the masters? With printing techniques improving over the years and clever little tricks to mimic brush strokes, it’s far easier to fall prey to those producing prints than anything else. So how can you try and protect yourself and ensure the paintings you’re purchasing are, in fact, paintings and genuine?

Painting or Print?

Techniques have improved over the years and prints can certainly be made, on the surface, to look like a painting, with brush strokes and all. This is done by overlaying the painting in a clear textured finish, brushed on to give the appearance of brush stroked. Of course, this only works for paintings using a thick medium such as oils or acrylics. Watercolours are even easier for the forgers to mimic.

Your biggest friends in the fight against the forgers are light and a magnifying glass / macro enabled camera.

When looking at a painting on canvas, begin by holding it up to the light. Look for brush strokes; naturally on a genuine painting these will vary in appearance, some may be thicker and deeper while others will be lighter. This, of course, can be recreated with the clear coating. While held up to the light, look at how the light comes through the canvas. On a genuine painting, the light will come through in varying degrees. This is because the painter will have applied different amounts of paint to the canvas. Again, these tips are specific to thicker paints. Watercolours have a more fluid appearance.

When looking at a watercolour, the majority will no doubt be framed. Your best tool here will be a magnifying glass or a macro enabled camera. Look very closely at an area of the painting with the magnifying glass or take a photo with a macro enabled camera. Look at the appearance, it should be immediately clear whether the image is painted or printed. When looking at a print, you will see a number of small dots making up the larger picture, this would not happen with a watercolour.

Most artists sign their work so look closely at the signature, especially if painted in the thicker mediums. The signature here would be raised in places and would certainly not be flat on a genuine oil painting, for example.

Genuine or Forgery

There are some talented people out there that can forge works of art. While the majority of talented artists would never dream of ripping off someone else’s work, there is a market for it and where there’s money there is, of course, temptation for some.

If you’re thinking about buying an expensive painting, begin by doing your homework. Know the artists signature, familiarise yourself with the style and look for any hints and tips online that may help you spot a fake.

Look at the patina of the painting, does it look of the age? Over the years dust and dirt will undoubtedly have become ingrained, colours will have faded etc. Look at the back of the piece, does it all look of the age? If not, ask the seller why. For example, a very old canvas would not have been stapled to the frame as staples did not exist. Do the nails and joins in the wood look suspect?

This next tip may seem like an odd one, but when looking at an oil painting, your sense of smell can really assist you. The smell of oil can take years to dissipate.

Trust your instincts, if something doesn’t feel right its probably safer to walk away than invest your hard earned cash in a fake. Of course, if you’re only buying a piece of artwork because it will look nice in your home and you like the style, then it may not matter to you whether or not the piece is genuine, but never pay over the odds for something that is not worth it. Painters spent hours and hours creating a work of art, this is reflected in the price. Prints take nowhere near the time, effort or materials so bare this in mind when making a purchase.