Editing Han van Meegeren (section)

===Further investigations===
In 1967, the Artists Material Center at [[Carnegie Mellon University]] in [[Pittsburgh]] examined several of the "Vermeers" in their collection, under the direction of Robert Feller and Bernard Keisch. The examination confirmed that several of their paintings were in fact created using materials invented in the 20th century. They concluded that they could be van Meegeren forgeries. The test results obtained by the Carnegie Mellon team are summarized below.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Han van Meegeren knew that [[white lead]] was used during Vermeer's time, but he had to obtain his stocks through the modern colour trade.  In the 17th century, lead was mined from deposits located in the Low Countries; however, by the 19th century, most lead was imported from Australia and the Americas, and differed both in [[isotope]] composition and in the content of trace elements. Dutch white lead was extracted from ores containing high levels of trace elements of [[silver]] and [[antimony]],<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=Analysis of investigations of pigments from paintings of south German painters in the 17th and 18th century |last=Strauss |first=R. |date=1968 |publisher=[[Technical University Munich]]}}</ref> while the modern white lead used by van Meegeren contained neither, as those elements are separated from the lead during the modern [[smelting]] process.<ref name= False>Exhibition catalog Essen and Berlin. ''Falsification and Research'' (1976) "Museum Folkwang, Essen and Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin". Berlin. Language: German. {{ISBN|3-7759-0201-5}}.</ref>

Forgeries in which modern lead or white lead pigment has been used can be recognized by using a technique called Pb(Lead)-210-Dating.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keisch|first=B.|title=Dating Works of Art through Their Natural Radioactivity: Improvements and Applications|doi=10.1126/science.160.3826.413|journal=Science|volume=160|issue=3826|pages=413–415|year=1968|pmid=17740234|bibcode=1968Sci...160..413K|s2cid=38078513}}</ref> [[Pb-210]] is a naturally occurring radioactive isotope of lead that is part of the [[uranium-238]] [[Decay chain|Radioactive decay series]], and has a [[half-life]] of 22.3 years. To determine the amount of Pb-210, the [[alpha radiation]] emitted by another element, [[polonium-210]] (Po-210), is measured.<ref>Flett,  Robert (8 October 2003). [http://www.flettresearch.ca/Webdoc4.htm Understanding the Pb-210 Method.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019010637/http://www.flettresearch.ca/Webdoc4.htm |date=2017-10-19 }}</ref> Thus it is possible to estimate the age of a painting, within a few years' span, by extrapolating the Pb-210 content present in the paint used to create the painting.<ref name=False/><ref>Froentjes, W., and R. Breek (1977). "A new study into the identity of the [portfolio] of van Meegeren". ''Chemical Magazine'': 583–589.</ref>

The white lead in the painting ''The Supper at Emmaus'' had polonium-210 values of 8.5±1.4 and [[radium-226]] (part of the uranium-238 radioactive decay series) values of 0.8±0.3. In contrast, the white lead found in Dutch paintings from 1600 to 1660 had polonium-210 values of 0.23±0.27 and radium-226 values of 0.40±0.47.<ref name="keisch1967">{{Cite journal |last1=Keisch |first1=B. |last2=Feller |first2=R. L. |last3=Levine |first3=A. S. |last4=Edwards |first4=R. R. |year=1967 |title=Dating and Authenticating Works of Art by Measurement of Natural Alpha Emitters |journal=Science |volume=155 |issue=3767 |pages=1238–1242 |bibcode=1967Sci...155.1238K |doi=10.1126/science.155.3767.1238 |pmid=17847535 |s2cid=23046304}}</ref>

In 1977, another investigation was undertaken by the States forensic labs of the Netherlands using up-to-date techniques, including [[gas chromatography]], to formally confirm the origin of six van Meegeren forgeries that had been alleged to be genuine Vermeers, including the ''Emmaus'' and the ''Last Supper''. The conclusions of the 1946 commission were again reaffirmed and upheld by the Dutch judicial system.<ref>Nieuw onderzoek naar het bindmiddel van Van Meegeren (New investigations in the chemicals of Han van Meegeren), Chemisch Weekblad Nov. 1977. {{in lang|nl}}.</ref>

In 1998, [[A&E (TV channel)|A&E]] ran a TV program called ''Scams, Schemes & Scoundrels'' highlighting van Meegeren's life and art forgeries, many of which had been confiscated as Nazi loot. The program was hosted by skeptic [[James Randi]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In July 2011, the BBC TV programme ''[[Fake or Fortune]]'' investigated a copy of [[Dirck van Baburen]]'s ''[[The Procuress (Dirck van Baburen)|The Procuress]]'' owned by the Courtauld Institute.<ref name="FoF4">{{Cite episode|title=Rembrandt|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012m6p5|access-date=2011-08-04|series=Fake or Fortune?|network=[[BBC]]|airdate=2011-07-10|number=4|archive-date=2011-08-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806231701/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012m6p5|url-status=live}}</ref> Opinion had been divided as to whether it was a 17th-century studio work or a van Meegeren fake.<ref name="FoF4" /> The programme used chemical analysis of the paint to show that it contained [[bakelite]] and thus confirmed that the painting was a 20th-century fake.<ref name="FoF4" />