Art Forgeries and Their Detection - the Scientia Review
Art Forgeries and Their Detection - the Scientia Review
Art Forgeries and Their Detection - the Scientia Review
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White Lead<br />
White lead dating is a method often used to find <strong>the</strong> age of an object up to<br />
2000 years old. White lead first became widely used after it was discovered<br />
that <strong>the</strong> radio activity of a substance is directly proportional to <strong>the</strong> number of<br />
atoms present in a painting. Using chemical equations it is possible to calcu-<br />
late <strong>the</strong> amount of lead-210 <strong>and</strong> radium-226 in each work of art. Lead <strong>and</strong> ra-<br />
dium are both elements contained in lead oxide, which is more often known<br />
as white lead. If <strong>the</strong> amount of white lead is too large <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> painting is<br />
modern, <strong>and</strong> if it has almost reached radioactive equilibrium <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> painting<br />
is much older.<br />
The Disciples at Emmaus by Van Mee-<br />
geren <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> equation used to discover<br />
that it was a forgery.
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