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Aging is a process by which an artwork, typically a painting or sculpture, is made to appear old. It is meant to emulate the natural deterioration that can occur over many decades or centuries. Although there may be "innocent" reasons for it, ageing is a technique very often used in art forgery.^[1]

Paintings deteriorate over time because they are created using essentially incompatible materials, with each having a different reaction to the changes in the environment, including light, temperature and relative humidity.

An oil painting consists of several layers, comprising the base canvas, a layer of gesso base coat, several layers of the oil-based paint and then several coats of varnish to protect the paint surface. With many different materials, it is understandable that each layer may dry at different rates and will also absorb and release moisture at different rates. When this occurs, expansion and contraction of the painting will result in a crazing of the varnish surface. This pattern of small cracks is known as craquelure. Along with the darkening or yellowing of the varnish surface, it is this visual representation of the cracking that is typically the primary indicator of ageing.

The purpose for artificially ageing is to create a finished product that accurately reflects an era or is consistent with the environment (usually period) into which it is to be placed.

References

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^ Esterow, Milton (2021-09-01). "Joining Plastic, Glass and Metal on the Recycle List: Fake Art". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-02-02.

v t e Cultural heritage and historic preservation
Topics and issues	Agents of deterioration Archival processing Archaeological science Archaeology Archive Bioarchaeology Book Calendar (archives) Conservation and restoration of cultural property Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property Conservation and restoration of movable cultural property Conservation science (cultural property) Collecting Collection (museum) Collection catalog Collections maintenance Collections management Collections management system Cultural heritage Cultural heritage management Cultural property Cultural property documentation Cultural property exhibition Cultural property imaging Cultural property storage Cultural resources management Database preservation Deaccessioning (museum) Digital library Digital photograph restoration Digital preservation Disaster preparedness (cultural property) Film preservation Finding aid Fonds Found in collection Heritage asset Heritage science Inherent vice Intangible cultural heritage Integrated pest management (cultural property) Inventory (library and archive) Inventory (museum) Media preservation Midden Mold control and prevention (library and archive) Museum Optical media preservation Preservation (library and archive) Preservation metadata Preservation survey Provenance Repatriation Ruins Sustainable preservation Treasure Web archiving
Roles and expertise	Archivist Art dealer Art handler Auctioneer Collection manager Conservator-restorer Conservation scientist Conservation technician Curator Exhibition designer Mount maker Objects conservator Paintings conservator Photograph conservator Preservationist Registrar (cultural property) Textile conservator
Methods and techniques	Aging (artwork) Anastylosis Arrested decay Cradling (paintings) Cultural property radiography Detachment of wall paintings Desmet method Display case Digital repository audit method based on risk assessment Historic paint analysis Inpainting Kintsugi Leafcasting Lining of paintings Mass deacidification Overpainting Paleo-inspiration Paper splitting Reconstruction (architecture) Rissverklebung Textile stabilization Transfer of panel paintings UVC-based preservation VisualAudio
Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property by item type	Archaeological sites Frescos Heritage railways Historic gardens Outdoor artworks Outdoor bronze objects Outdoor murals
Conservation and restoration of movable cultural property by item type	Aircraft Ancient Greek pottery Bone, horn, and antler objects Books, manuscripts, documents and ephemera Ceramic objects Clocks Copper-based objects Feathers Film Flags and banners Fur objects Glass objects Herbaria Human remains Illuminated manuscripts Insect specimens Iron and steel objects Ivory objects Judaica Lacquerware Leather objects Lighthouses Metals Musical instruments Neon objects New media art Paintings Painting frames Panel paintings Papyrus Parchment Performance art Photographs Photographic plates Plastic objects Rail vehicles Road vehicles Shipwreck artifacts Silver objects South Asian household shrines Stained glass Taxidermy Textiles Tibetan thangkas Time-based media art Totem poles Vinyl discs Woodblock prints Wooden artifacts Wooden furniture
Intangible cultural heritage preservation	Ancient music Applied folklore Dance notation Early music Endangered language Ethnochoreology Ethnomusicology Ethnopoetics Family folklore Folklore Folk art Folk dance Folk etymology Folk instrument Folk medicine Folk music Folk process Folk play Foodways Folklore studies Heritage language Heritage language learning Indigenous intellectual property Indigenous culture Indigenous language Language death Language preservation Language revitalization Living history Oral history preservation Preservation of meaning Primitive music Tradition preservation Traditional knowledge
Notable projects	Conservation issues of Pompeii and Herculaneum Conservation-restoration of Ecce Homo by Elías García Martínez Conservation-restoration of The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins Conservation-restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper Pompeian frescoes Conservation-restoration of the Shroud of Turin Conservation-restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes Conservation-restoration of the Statue of Liberty Conservation-restoration of the H.L. Hunley Conservation response to flood of Arno, Florence Modern and Contemporary Art Research Initiative Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies World Heritage Site

Aging (artwork)

References

See also