The anatomy of a fake

For years, the National
Gallery has insisted that
its version of Francesco
Francia's "exquisite"
Virgin and Child with an
Angel is the 16th century
original, says Charlotte
Higgins in The Guardian
- and that the almost
identical painting in
Pittsburgh's Carnegie
Museum is a copy. But
that was before the gal-
lery's researchers exam-
ined it using infrared reflectography, which
penetrates the paint layer, and discovered that
the angel's hair had been drawn with a graphite
pencil. Alas, "graphite was available in only one
place in the early 16th century: Cumbria". Thus
the work (above) could not have been made in
Italy at that time, and is most likely a 19th
century copy. It will go on show beside other
fakes this June in an exhibition. Close
Examination, illustrating the scientific
techniques used to authenticate works of art.