Does technological analysis destroy the romance of art history?

Noah Charney | Aeon | 9th August 2016

A nostalgic essay about the impact of exact technology on inexact art history. Tools like infrared spectroscopy can upend conventional views and dominate (less exact) scholarly debate. Are great works of art diminished in the process? Sometimes, especially if authenticity is challenged. But new evidence is not always conclusive leading to “duelling opinions rather than resolutions”.