NATIONAL GALLERY DISCOVERS 15th PAINTING TO BE FAKE

THE NATIONAL GALLERY HAS DISCOVERED AN IMPOSTOR AMONG ITS GREAT OLD MASTER PICTURES, A 19th CENTURY FORGERY OF A 15th CENTURY PAINTING. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH AN ANGEL HAS BEEN A HIGHLY PRIZED PAINTING BY THE RENAISSANCE ARTIST FRANCESCO FRANCIA SINCE IT WAS ACQUIRED AS A GIFT ALMOST 100 YEARS AGO. IT WAS THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN PAINTED AROUND 1490. NOW IT HAS BEEN UNMASKED AS A FAKE, PAINTED AS RECENTLY AS THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY. EXPERTS AT THE GALLERY FOUND THE DAMNING EVIDENCE RECENTLY WHEN THEY USED ROUTINE SCIENTIFIC TESTS TO LOOK THROUGH THE PAINTING'S LAYERS FOR THE FIRST TIME. SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS EXPOSED THE DECEPTION, REVEALING THAT THE FORGER USED PIGMENTS THAT WERE NOT AVAILABLE BEFORE THE 19th CENTURY AND COATED THE TOP LAYER WITH A NATURAL RESIN TO SIMULATE THE APPEARANCE OF AGE. TO THEIR ASTONISHMENT, THEY DISCOVERED A PRELIMINARY DRAWING BENEATH THE PAINTING DRAWN IN GRAPHITE PENCIL, AN IMPLEMENT THAT DID NOT EXIST AT THAT TIME. 'THIS PROVED THE PAINTING COULD NOT BE AN AUTHENTIC FRANCESCO FRANCIA', SAID A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE GALLERY. 'THE STYLE OF THE UNDER-DRAWING WAS 19th CENTURY RATHER THAN THE 16th', SHE ADDED. IF NOT FOR THE SCIENTIFIC TESTS, THE FORGERY WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED. THE OIL ON WOOD PAINTING, WHICH MEASURES 58.5 BY 44.5 cm, WAS DESCRIBED AS A FRANCIA WHEN IT WAS BOUGHT BY THE COLLECTOR LUDWIG MOND IN 1893. IN 1924, HIS £500 MILLION COLLECTION OF RENAISSANCE MASTERPIECES, INCLUDING RAPHAEL, TITIAN AND THE FRANCIA, WAS LEFT TO THE NATION. THE FRANCIA VIRGIN TOOK PRIDE OF PLACE IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY UNTIL 1954 WHEN ANOTHER VERSION, NOW IN THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM IN PITTSBURGH, SURFACED. ITS QUALITY WAS SUPERIOR, BUT EXPERTS SILL BELIEVED THAT THE NATIONAL GALLERY'S PAINTING WAS A FRANCIA. THE GALLERY NO REALIZES THAT ITS VERSION IS A PRECISE COPY OF THE PITTSBURGH ONE. ASKED WHETHER THEY FEAR THEY MAY DISCOVER MORE FAKES, THE GALLERY SAYS IT IS UNLIKELY. THE FAKE WILL HAVE ONE LAST OUTING IN A GALLERY SHOW BEFORE BEING DISGRACED TO A STOREROOM. IT WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY'S MAJOR EXHIBITION 'FAKES, MISTAKES & DISCOVERIES' FROM 30.JUNE.