These days, plagiarism is rampant in every part of life. From music to clothes and technology, copying someone else’s ideas and reproducing someone else’s work without their permission has become a common practice.

Of course these plagiarized products cost much less than an original, but this is an unethical practice which is punishable by law.

This article discusses ways you can spot a fake from an original, and save yourself from being a part of an illegal transaction.

Use Magnifying Glass

Using a magnifying glass to know a fake from an original is essential. You may have observed antique dealers carrying magnifying glasses with them whenever they buy a painting. This is because a magnifying glass will help you distinguish brush strokes. If you are viewing a lithograph or a print, you won’t be able to see any strokes. An original, handmade painting will have brush strokes of varying quality.

Hold the Painting to Light

Holding a painting to a bright source of light and then looking at it from the back can help you distinguish a fake one. An original painting will let variations of light and shadow to pass through the canvas, while a lithograph will allow a smooth passage of light. This is because, in a real painting, heaviness of paint will not allow the light to pass smoothly through the canvas. 

Look for the Signature

An original work of art will almost always have the signature of the artist to the lower right corner of the painting. Compare this signature to other works of the same artist and judge if they are done by the same person.

Furthermore, a print and a lithograph will have a flat signature, while on a real painting, the signatures have dimension. This is because paint has a two dimensional effect on canvas, while a lithograph will be smooth.

Nowadays, the technique of creating very high quality lithographs of an original painting is very easy to make. There is an ample supply of these prints on online shopping sites such as eBay and Amazon, and it is nearly impossible to detect a fake from an original when you are not viewing it in person.
 An artist dedicates over hundreds of hours to a painting. This is why it is only right to buy originals and pay full and fair price for it. You can buy Judith Barath’s exquisite oil paintings and photographs from her website.