Richard Johnson can see right through the masterpieces of Rembrandt and Van Gogh. The Cornell University electrical and computer engineering professor is a digital art detective, able to unlock the mysteries of a work's age and authenticity by analyzing its underlying canvas or paper. Using high-resolution X-ray images, the 64-year-old academic can actually determine if paintings came from the same bolt of hand-loomed canvas, each of which has a varying thread density pattern that can be as unique as a fingerprint. Linking multiple pieces of canvas to the same bolt can shore up arguments for authenticity and even put works in chronological order.
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Richard Johnson uses high-res X-rays to forensically examine canvases
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He helped develop digital 'weave density maps' to analyse the canvases
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Now he has switched his attentions to paper and Rembrandt's prints
Paper chain line patterns resembling stripes can be seen on the paper used by @placeholder for his self-portrait when it is held against a window.