Jehane Ragai

"Authenticity is important on many fronts. Forged works in the arts provide a distorted art-historical understanding of the artist’s oeuvre."

"If it is revealed as a forgery, it loses its hold on the viewer. Societal pressures, as well as snobbery, also play a role with regard to the importance of authenticity."

"The connoisseur will describe the style and the technique of the artwork attributed to a given artist. If asked to judge the authenticity of the work, the brushwork, style, and composition have to be consistent with those of the purported artist. Furthermore, there needs to be an examination as to whether or not the chronology of the painter’s own artistic development is followed."

"For a robust profile of an artwork (I am concentrating here on paintings), there needs to be an input from the expert connoisseur, the art historian, as well as the scientist."

"The profile of the painting is completed by the scientist who, using appropriate tools, will examine the surface craquelure (the network of cracks in the paint or varnish) as well as its fluorescence properties, analyze the underdrawings, determine the nature of the pigments and binding materials, date the canvas, and also date the frame."