A very recent technology allows for artists' original paintings to be replicated on canvas. Prior to this an artist who painted an original work on canvas would have to have a reproduction made on paper. Unlike a paper reproduction, one printed on canvas can be displayed without glass and matting, and also looks like an original.

There are two main ways that person can produce canvas prints. They are by canvas transferring and printing directly on the canvas. Both can produce high-quality results, and can be made to look as close to the original as possible.

When it comes to reproducing an artist's original canvas art prints, it is obvious that the reproduction should look as much like the original as possible. By using several techniques, it makes it easy to produce canvas art prints that look just as good as the original.

Transferring to make canvas art prints is the most common of the two techniques. It begins with a standard, offset paper print that is made in the traditional way from the original. The print is then coated with a series of special chemicals that are designed to allow the paper and the ink to separate from each other. That means when the paper is removed, the ink remains.

The canvass is then prepped with adhesive, and the film is carefully laid on it. Pressure is applied to bond the film to the canvas, which is then set aside to dry. The result is a beautiful canvas art print that looks very much like the original.

Printing directly on the canvas to produce canvas art prints is the second most commonly used method.

Other methods used consist of direct offset printing, where a piece of canvas is run through an offset press; Repligraphy, where a hot-melt color dye printing system is used to create an oil-based film that adheres to the canvas; and Artagraphs, which features a mold of both the artist's original brushstrokes and textures.

How can you tell if a piece of art is the original or a canvas art print reproduction? Although it may seem hard, there are clues that someone can use to tell what is real and what is a copy.

The first is to look for limited edition print numbers, which are normally found at the bottom of the work in xx/yy format. When producing canvas art prints, a reproduction often leaves this out.

Canvas art prints are usually completely flat or have small applications of hand-applied paint that is referred to as highlight. If the canvas art print is flat to the touch, then it's probably a reproduction. Originals mostly include areas of texture.

Highlights can be obvious to see. A hightlight can be simply a small dab of paint, which is quite different from an artist's actual brushstroke.

Other options include using a high-powered microscope to look for standard dot patterns and/or calling a gallery to see if they have someone who can identify your canvas art print as an original or a reproduction.