SGS Solves Mystery of Lost René Guiette Painting in TV Series “The Sense of Beauty”

SGS Art Services has contributed to the new television series, “The Sense of Beauty”. In the documentary, the company shows how state-of-the-art scientific analysis is now being used to protect artworks, identify paintings, catalogue their development and recognize counterfeit works.

The shoot, which took place at SGS’s dedicated art laboratory in Geneva Freeport, focused on recent work undertaken on the painting, “The Paysage”, by renowned Belgian painter, René Guiette (1893–1976). During high-resolution digital X-radiography of the painting, SGS’s experts discovered Guiette has re-used the canvas of an earlier painting. The images clearly showed “The Paysage” had been painted over a previously lost Cubist painting, also by René Guiette. Until this point, the painting had been known only from contemporary photographs.

The mystery of the lost Cubist painting was solved during analysis for a report on the condition of the artwork. SGS experts use cutting-edge techniques, such as infrared reflectography and digital X-ray radiography, to look at all aspects of a canvas, including what has been over-painted.

The documentary, directed by Massimo Brega for Kepach Productions, interviewed SGS Art Services’ staff including, Global Manager Yan Walther, Senior Conservation Scientist Valeria Ciocan, and Conservation Scientist Marta Felix Campos. They explained how the lost painting was discovered and gave some insight into how modern technology is expanding our understanding of works of art and providing more clarity and transparency to the art world.

Valeria Ciocan acknowledged that this was a unique opportunity for SGS Art Services. The majority of SGS Art Services work is conducted in strict confidentiality but, thanks to the generosity of “The Paysage” owner, Manou de Kerchove D’Ousselghem, SGS has been able to use this opportunity to show the wider world how art expertise is changing thanks to state-of-the-art objective scientific techniques.

“The Sense of Beauty”, written and presented by Dominic Frisby, will be broadcast on Italian TV channel RAI 5 on November 17, 2017. The six-part series looks at the eternal question, ‘What is Beauty?’, and discusses how beauty has changed over time and is perceived differently by different cultures. SGS will appear in episode 5, to be shown on December 15 at 9:15 pm.

To accompany this event, SGS has produced a short making-of film [https://youtu.be/QY2D776c7sQ]

Watch “The Sense of Beauty” trailer [vimeo.com/238426485]

SGS Art Services
SGS’s arts and culture services help clients to analyze and date works of art, and to gain in-depth knowledge of their materials, techniques and condition. The company acquires the data needed by experts for their authentication of artworks or to uncover unknown masterpieces; to provide an inventory of art collections; and to document and verify the condition of artworks before and after any logistical operation. Learn more about SGS Art Services: [www.sgs.com/en/arts-and-culture]

For more information, please contact:

Stephanie Meyer-Pionchon
Global Marketing Manager, Art Services
Email: crs.media@sgs.com
Website: www.sgs.com/art
LinkedIn: www.sgs.com/linkedinart

About SGS
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 90,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

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This release was published on openPR.