In comic books of the thirties, lasers were useful for fighting alien invasions and slicing cantaloupe. In the 60s, they were a favorite tool of Bond villains the world over. But these days, the laser has lost a bit of its cred as a nifty space age technology. That is, until now. A professor at Duke University has discovered a new application of laser technology. Specifically, he’s figured out how to use lasers to discover what lays hidden beneath paintings without damaging the paintings in the process.
Fun with Lasers
The usual methods for determining the age and authenticity of a painting involve actually taking a sample from a painting. A skilled art conservationist uses a scalpel to remove a small chunk of paint from a painting. This chunk is then analyzed for authenticity by examining its composition. Art experts know which types of paint were used at what points in time historically. Additionally, they know which types of paint were more commonly used in fake works, as they tend to be cheaper and inferior.
Although the paint removal method has been around for a long time, this new laser technique is capable of analyzing paint materials without any paint removal. Although it’s still the early days of developing this technology, the hope is that laser-based art analysis will eventually allow art conservationists to quickly and gently determine whether a painting is real or fake, and also document the materials used to create it.