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The hidden pattern in the cracks of paintings

Phil Edwards | January 16, 2026



Look closer — you’ll see a story about history.

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For this piece about the cracks in paintings, I mainly parroted the widely-cited and influential work of Spike Bucklow. Check out these key papers:

The description of craquelure patterns:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1506709?seq=1

The description and classification of craquelure:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1506653?seq=1

A stylometric analysis of craquelure:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30204782?seq=1

There is so so much about Girl With a Pearl Earring. 20 minute video, someday. In the meantime, this is a blog post about GWPE (as we insiders call her) and craquelure:
https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/explore/restoration-and-research/girl-with-a-blog/19-youre-cracking-me-up/

These cracks in paintings can really help distinguish between Flemish, Dutch, Italian, and French art. It’s fascinating to try it for yourself.

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Written by Phil Edwards

Comments

This post currently has 37 comments.

  7. @tomaszprzetacznik7802

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    I studied arts, and there is so much to say about art of painting especially classical works of old masters but not only. Anyways please mind ONE important thing THOSE masterpieces should be experienced in person, go to museum or gallery and view em yourself. There's no reproduction/album even most beautifully printed that can transfer this experience. And what also amazing education helps to understand em, but is not necessary – opened mind and senses are sometimes enough. When you find the right art , art that will connect with your sensitivity I guarantee transcendental experiences, you just need to recognize what affects you most.

  11. @azoic6

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    I wiah you were my art museum tour guide in elementary school, instead of the clown who ignored my question about cracks in the paintings

  15. @ManuelSLaraBisch

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    Hi, just commenting to let you know there seems to be a problem with the captions on this video. If you watch the video with captions enabled, at 0:01 there's a giant block of caption that stretches from the bottom to presumably a large distance from the top of the screen, seemingly containing the entire script for the video as a single "line" of captioning (the part I could see corresponded to your outro talk). It disappears quickly, and no captions are shown for the remainder of the clip. So it looks like the line separators and timing information somehow got lost along the way.

  22. @MikeTrieu

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    Interesting. Craquelure as a Physically Unclonable Function. Even if a forger could physically replicate all the brush strokes, how would they be able to precisely duplicate the craquelure?

  24. @lizc6393

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    The VMFA is my happy place. It's a delight to see an intelligent and engaging analysis of the pieces I've spent so many hours of quality time with. Thank you Phil.

  27. @beholdcaesar

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    fascinating, never thought about the cracks, I wonder how long does it take for cracks to form, and did the authors plan on their works cracking in a predictable way ?

  34. @davidreibelt2704

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    I LOVE your vids. You dont just spew information at us. You engage us first and then take us on a bit of a ride. I am not that smart and my vids would be BORING. Keep it coming Phil!!

  35. @mediamfilm

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    I'm here for the algorithm. It's obvious the amount of effort and passion going into this channel and I'd love to see what becomes of it when your resources grow. Quality education is important and I'm here to support it!

  36. @Fubeman

    January 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

    I remember seeing a documentary about a forger a few years back , and he went on a 10 minute diatribe about how much time he spent just on the cracks of a painting. He knew how important this was. Amazing. Great job Phil.

    P.S. Say "Hi" to Richmond, Va for me. Been a few years since I've been back.

Comments are closed.

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