Jehane Ragai on the science of authenticating artworks

January 27, 2026·28 min·2 clips

How did a Dutch forger fool experts with fake Vermeers, even selling one to a Nazi leader?

A forgery is the doorway in. The host tells the Han van Meekeren story: apparently lost Vermeers impressed experts, then a treason charge pushed him to prove fraud by painting another fake. That is where authentication becomes the spine of the episode. Modern methods, the host says, make that sort of deception much harder, and Ragai's work belongs to the move from trained eyes toward material proof. The conversation then turns inward. Ragai remembers leaving Egypt after her husband's appointment in Dubai, with the research done but the thesis still waiting. The move hurt. Writing the thesis in four months became a saviour for her, a disciplined place to stand inside an environment she found painful. The host gives that answer room before moving to her work after the PhD, when she became an assistant professor at AUC. The Sphinx project is the practical middle of the episode. Through the American Research Centre in Egypt, Ragai was asked to do analytical work on pigments, mortars, restoration, and time. The team wanted to know whether ancient Egyptian mortars could help date restored parts of the Sphinx, especially the forepaws. Ragai analysed mortar samples and compared material from the heart of the Great Pyramid with material from the Sphinx. Gypsum mortar becomes the clue. She explains how gypsum can be heated at a relatively low temperature into plaster of Paris, then regenerated. Lime mortar, linked here with Roman times, took a more expensive process. Gypsum was cheap and easy in Egypt's dry environment. The ending is small and lovely. Ragai says she once felt she lacked an artistic gift, until jewellery making gave her a craft tied to minerals and chemistry.

As heard by us

Forgery, mortar, and the chemistry behind authentication.

This episode treats art authentication as a practical mix of forgery, chemistry, and evidence. It starts with Han van Meegeren's fake Vermeers, then moves to Jihan Ragai's work on the Great Sphinx, where pigments and mortars become the evidence at hand.

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Why you'd press play

If you like an art forgery story that runs straight into chemistry, start here.

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