The Masters' and the Forgers' Secrets

An announcement slightly out of category, as we don't usually deal with art history in these pages, but of a publication which may interest this readership: art historian Roger Marijnissen's final legacy of lifelong work: x-raying great works of mostly Netherlandish art.

Marijnissen started x-raying art works in 1950. Even though the author's name features prominently on the cover (the publisher's decision), this work has been executed as much by Guido Vandevoorde, Leopold Kockaert, Roger Van Schoute, and Francis Cuigniez. Sixty years later, their work is published in The Master's and the Forger's Secrets. X-Ray Authentication of Paintings (Mercatorfonds, 2009 - ISBN 978-90-6153-929-2).

The author has been much maligned here in this country, as he always has been a staunch defender of leaving precious works exactly where they are, thus blasting any blockbuster exhibition. He's been known to say to many an obtuse colleague that even the slightest transportation can damage these works irreparably.

He has also become isolated with this technique, even though this team of researchers do state very honestly if and when x-raying remains inconclusive. However, there aren't many art historians today who possess either the knowledge about x-ray technology nor the practical lore of how the old masters prepared a canvas.

For non-specialists too, this work is alluring, because it is an invitation to learn how to see.

R.H. Marijnissen. The Master's and the Forger's Secrets. X-Ray Authentication of Paintings (Mercatorfonds, 2009 - ISBN 978-90-6153-929-2). Numerous black and white and color illustrations. 431 p.