FILE No.65Unsolved
In a corner of a painting that a museum displayed as a "landscape by a 19th-century master," there is a plastic bottle of drink painted on a desk.
What can be said for certain about this painting? Look closely at the evidence.
If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.
When did the objects in the painting come into use?
Consider the possibility of an addition from the technical analysis.
Look at the analysis of areas other than the bottle.
What can be said for certain about this painting? Look closely at the evidence.
Choose the answer closest to the truth.
The description “a painting completed in the 19th century” does not fit the facts
The answer is “the description ‘a painting completed in the 19th century’ does not fit the facts.”
Drinks in plastic bottles came into practical use only from the 1970s on. In addition, a pigment made only since the 1950s was found not just in the bottle but in the sky layer. Even if the painter had imagined a future container, he could not have used a pigment that did not exist in the 19th century. So the painting was made in the 1950s or later. The idea that a later restorer added it does not agree with the analysis showing the same layer and the same cracks. The photo was not edited. When and by whom it was painted cannot be known from this.
With the title “masterpiece,” you skip checking the contents of the painting.
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