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Innovative techniques invented to identify counterfeit spare parts in the automotive and aerospace industries are now also being applied to detect counterfeit art.
Developers of an “optical recognition system” claim to have created a “tamper-proof digital fingerprint” of paintings and sculptures. This would allow museums, for example, to tell within seconds whether an original work has been replaced with a fake.
A German museum recently fell victim to such a crime. The employee replaced the three paintings with fakes and sold the originals to reward himself with a Rolls Royce and other luxuries.
The technology, called Origify, was developed by Bosch in 2017 to stop the trade in counterfeit spare parts for cars and aircraft. This German manufacturer is the largest supplier to the automotive industry. Before developing Origify, the company struggled to combat counterfeit products and other fraud in the manufacturing and replacement parts markets. The unregulated network of retailers and repair shops makes it easy for counterfeiters to bring in illegal products.
These counterfeit parts include exhaust sensors that are too small to bear identification labels or markings. A special camera system captures selected unique details normally invisible to the human eye and stores the data in a “tamper-proof cloud” allowing for authentication with a smartphone app. “It’s just like looking at someone’s fingerprints. It’s a unique fingerprint that can’t be copied,” said Oliver Steinbis, inventor of Origify.
“Due to the statistical thresholds of our algorithm, it is impossible to identify an unregistered image as an original image. Images are uniquely recognized, even if they are art prints of the same work.”
An art lover, he suddenly realized that its use could also be extended to painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Even if a work has been restored, important data remains in the untouched parts. Steinbis is scheduled to meet with European museum security chiefs next month.
Michael Daly, director of Artwatch UK, an independent watchdog for art conservation, said: “Bosch’s plan seems technically very feasible. All works of art, from drawings and prints to paintings and sculptures, are man-made objects, and the intended reproduction will not reflect the optical appearance of a particular work of art.” No matter how skillful an imitation, one cannot duplicate the means by which the work was originally constructed.Inevitably, some scrutiny will reveal obvious differences in origin. Sho.”
A German incident in September 2023 involved the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where employees working in the archives removed works by Art Nouveau artist Franz von Stuck. S war einmar (Once Upon a Time), 1891, a painting based on a fairy tale frog prince.
He replaced it with a fake and sold the original for €70,000 (£60,000) through German auction house Ketterer Kunst. He also stole three of his paintings by 19th-century German artists, two of which he managed to sell at auction.
A museum spokeswoman said the stack was part of a collection whose provenance was being investigated, but another staff member noticed the unusual back and “immediately realized that the painting was not an original and was a fake. ” he said. The thief received a 21-month suspended prison sentence and was ordered to repay more than €60,000.
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