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Fiona and Philip visit a church in Port Glasgow to investigate whether a mysterious work depicting Christ after the crucifixion could be a lost masterpiece by one of the great painters of Northern Renaissance art.
Art historian Ian Macdonald thought there was something special about the painting, but he died in 2021. Now his widow Marjorie is taking up the case with the aid of the Fake or Fortune? team. Can they find the answers Ian was looking for?
Armed with a file of research and a list of seven suspects, they follow this ecclesiastical whodunnit from Scotland to Belgium, into the beguiling world of Flemish art that was once the most accomplished, and prolific, in Europe. In one of their toughest investigations yet, the team discover why it's so difficult to identify the artists behind Flemish masterpieces, and they use dendrochronology - the science of dating wood - to try to find out when the picture was painted.
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a charming little landscape of a French village with a river running through it, purported to be by one of the founding members of the 19th century Impressionist movement, the British artist Alfred Sisley.
Its owners, Americans Kim and Chuck Van Fossan bought the work at auction near Chicago and believe it to be genuine. However, the painting was turned down nearly ten years ago by the authentication committee, so the team will have to find new evidence to help persuade them to change their mind. A lot is at stake: if the work is genuine, it could be worth over £250,000.
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a delicate sketch depicting a mother and child, purported to be by one of the modern art world's most famous names, Amedeo Modigliani. Its owner, Henrietta Sitwell, inherited the work and always believed it to be genuine. However, a leading auction house recently cast doubt on its authenticity. If the work is genuine, it could be worth up to £100,000. If not, just a few hundred.
Henrietta inherited the sketch from her father, who had inherited it from his father, the writer and art collector Sacheverell Sitwell. Sacheverell was, along with his two siblings Osbert and Edith, a central member of the Bright Young Things of the 1920s and a key figure in the world of British art. A direct connection to such an established and respected name might normally be enough to guarantee the authenticity of a work but, with an artist as regularly forged as Modigliani, it's not so simple.
Fiona begins our investigation by getting to grips with the world of Modigliani scholarship. Not only are there multiple, contradictory catalogues of the artist's work, the author of one catalogue has been convicted of forging works by Modigliani. Also, recent high-profile exhibitions have been shut down, with all the paintings seized and destroyed as fakes. In a world with so many pitfalls, can we prove that this is the rare example of an uncatalogued genuine work?
Philip takes the sketch to be examined forensically, chemically testing the age of the paper to see whether it dates from before Modigliani's death in 1920, at the age of just 35. Armed with further material evidence, he brings the sketch to the Pompidou Centre in Paris to compare it with a known Modigliani sketchbook. Also, we meet with handwriting expert Adam Brand to see whether the dedication and signature match with any of the hundreds of confirmed Modigliani signatures.
Fiona delves deep into the extensive Sitwell family archives to find any hard evidence for the picture's provenance. The family story is that Sacheverell bought this work sometime after the First World War. Can we find any written proof of this? The picture is dedicated to 'Zborowski' - the name of Modigliani's friend and art dealer Leopold Zborowski. Why would Sacheverell have owned a picture dedicated to someone else? Travelling to the Montmartre streets where Modigliani lived and worked, Fiona outlines the connections between the artist, his dealer and Henrietta's grandfather.
Back in London, we recreate the 1919 exhibition Sacheverell, his brother and Leopold Zborowski held of modern French artists at Heal's, the famous department store - an exhibition where dozens of Modigliani sketches were on sale for a few pennies each. Could this have been the moment when a Modigliani sketch, dedicated to his art dealer, found its way into the hands of the Sitwell family?
When Ian and Julie moved into their Surrey cottage nearly 20 years ago, they discovered a curious wall painting in one of the bedrooms. They had no idea who put it there. Julie wanted to get rid of it as it didn't match her decor plans, while their four-year-old wanted to colour it in with her crayons.
Ian was about to paint over it when an elderly neighbour popped round and introduced himself. He'd heard from one of the previous owners of the cottage that the work was by famous abstract artist Ben Nicholson.
Ben Nicholson was one of the greatest British artists of the 20th century. Born in 1894, he became a key figure in the European avant-garde. He was a pioneer of modernism who rejected conventional ways of painting and experimented with bold new means of expression. In a career spanning more than six decades, his abstract works were among the most influential in British art.
Over the years, Ian and Julie have shown the work to experts from the art world, but they have doubts. Is this work by the master of British modernism, or is it an artful copy by a follower?
Getting to the bottom of the mystery has recently become a matter of urgency. Ian is a builder, and he's midway through constructing an extension to the cottage. He's concerned the building work might put this potential masterpiece at risk of damage and destruction. If the team can prove the painting is genuine, it could be worth £200,000. But this poses a dilemma for the owners - if it is by Ben Nicholson, then a sizable chunk of their bedroom wall might have to be removed in order to preserve the painting.
How could a work by Ben Nicholson have ended up on Ian and Julie's bedroom wall? To find out, Fiona and Philip need to look into the previous owners of the cottage. Did they have any connections to Nicholson, and if so, can it be proved that Nicholson visited the cottage? Fiona heads to the Tate to delve into a vast collection of Ben Nicholson's letters. Meanwhile, Philip enlists the help of the Courtauld Institute to try to find out how the wall painting was constructed and what it's made of.
This thrilling investigation takes us to across the country on the trail of a master of British modernism. Is the wall painting in Ian and Julie's house a genuine work by Ben Nicholson, and if so, can it be safely removed from the cottage?
Anglesey farmer Huw Lewis bought a small painting depicting the Last Supper for £50 on the internet. Can the team prove it's an eighteenth-century work by the artist Benjamin West?
The team investigate a powerful scene of the aftermath of battle. Could it be a work by the Victorian artist Edwin Landseer that was previously thought to have been destroyed by a flood in 1928?
In 1999 Jon Swihart believed he'd bought a genuine work by the 19th century Orientalist artist Jean-Leon Greome but the leading authority disagreed. Can the team prove Jon right?
A sculpture found in the long grass of a Norfolk home bears striking similarities to the work of Henry Moore. Could it be a lost work by one of the greatest 20th-century artists?
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate the provenance of a painting with a Venetian view, trying to ascertain whether it is the work of Francesco Guardi or Michele Marieschi. Owner Nick Hopkinson inherited the painting from his great grandfather and Guardi and Marieschi are both known for their depictions of Venetian views and were contemporaries in the 18th century of Canaletto. But there's a big difference in value between them - if Nick's painting is a Marieschi it could be worth half a million pounds, if it's a Guardi it could be worth up to £10million.
Bought for just £1, could a small still life be the work of one of the masters of early 20th-century art, Giorgio de Chirico?
Can the team prove that a portrait attributed to pioneering female artist Maria Cosway is actually an undiscovered work of the great Regency artist Sir Thomas Lawrence?
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate more potentially valuable works of art. They begin with an 18th-century landscape that could be a lost work by of one of the biggest names in British art, Thomas Gainsborough. The painting has been in the family of owner Mark Cropper for generations and until the 1970s it was considered to be a Gainsborough. But then a valuation downgraded it and Mark's father tore off the Gainsborough label in disgust. Now Mark would love to be able to re-apply the Gainsborough plaque.
Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould investigate the first work of sculpture featured on the show, an unusual piece called The Gazing Head, which may have been made by Alberto Giacometti in 1930s Paris. The quest to uncover the truth is complicated by the fact that the sculpture was once broken into several pieces by a cat.
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate two rare portraits of black British subjects from the 18th and 19th centuries. Painted with extraordinary skill and sophistication, both pictures are highly unusual in their positive depiction of black sitters at a time when Britain was still heavily engaged in slavery. But this is also an intriguing double whodunnit. Who are the artists who broke with the conventions of the time to paint these exceptional works?
The team investigate whether a small watercolour sketch could be by the British 20th-century sculptor Henry Moore. It is the only piece thought to be a British artist in a Nazi hoard of around 1,500 works discovered in Germany in 2012. Known as the Gurlitt hoard, it is now housed in the Museum of Fine Art in Bern, Switzerland. Every piece in the hoard has to be researched, as if it was art stolen or looted from Jewish families, it should be returned. Fiona and Philip need to establish two things - firstly whether this a genuine work by Henry Moore or a whether it is a fake, And secondly, if it is genuine, how did a sketch by a British artist end up in a Nazi art hoard? The answer to this will decide it's fate.
Fiona and Philip head to France to see if they can reverse an art world decision which one owner refuses to accept. Alain was given two sketchbooks by his grandmother back in 1965. Although she never revealed where they came from, they were thought to be the work of Toulouse Lautrec, the aristocratic artist born in 1864 known for his atmospheric depictions of Parisian nightlife. Alain waited 50 years before he decided to present the sketches to the French committee responsible for authenticating the work of Toulouse Lautrec. Unfortunately, the committee did not accept them as the work of Lautrec and stated they were the work of another artist - Rene Princeteau - meaning they are worth just a few thousand pounds instead of many hundreds of thousands. For Fiona and Philip, this is on one of their toughest investigations - they must not only discredit the sketches as the work of Princeteau but also persuade the committee to change their mind.
Can the team prove that a beautiful still life of a glass jug and pears is the work of celebrated British artist William Nicholson? Viewer Lyn asked for help because her painting was rejected by the leading authority on William Nicholson and was left out of the artist's latest catalogue raisonnee. Lyn bought the paining in 2006 for £165,000, believing it to be a genuine Nicholson, but now it's worth practically nothing. However, this damning ruling has divided art world opinion. Can Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould uncover enough new evidence to convince sceptics that this is a genuine Nicholson?
The Fake Or Fortune team are on the trail of two pictures brought to their attention by viewers, both believed to be by Paul Gauguin – one of the giants of 19th century art. Could two lost works have surfaced in a Cambridgeshire village and a suburb of Manchester?
The Fake Or Fortune team embark on their furthest-flung investigation, as they head to Australia to see if they can prove that an online purchase from an English auction site is a lost work by Tom Roberts, considered one of Australia's greatest artists.
The team try to find out whether a beautiful English landscape is a work of national importance - a lost masterpiece by John Constable and quite possibly an alternative view of his greatest work, The Hay Wain. Now owned by a Gloucestershire businessman, the painting appears to have all the hallmarks of Constable's sketches - his more impressionistic, preparatory works. If genuine, it could be worth at least £2 million. There are few more iconic paintings in British art than Constable's The Hay Wain. A picture with a direct link to this milestone in British art would be the holy grail for any collector or museum and the picture appears to depict the very same scene, Willy Lot's cottage on the banks of the River Stour. The trouble is, Constable is one of the most faked artists of the 19th century, and the painting has a chequered past. Thirty years ago, several top Constable experts decided that it was not an authentic work. It is a particularly personal case for Philip Mould, who briefly owned the painting in the past but had to let it slip through his fingers after he failed in his attempts to prove its authenticity. Now scientific analysis techniques have moved on and neglected records can be searched more
deeply online, can the latest advances and deep research into the picture's provenance turn up enough
Every year, the Fake or Fortune team receive hundreds of requests for help from the owners of mysterious portraits. Everyone wants to know two things - who is it and who painted it? The team choose three of the most promising portraits to investigate further - a portrait of a child, believed to be by prized modern artist Willem de Kooning, a portrait of a young lady, attributed to 18th century society painter Philip Mercier and a portrait of a formidable looking man, said to be by 19th century German master Adolph von Menzel. Philip Mould takes on the de Kooning case, meeting Belgian owners Jan and Chris Starckx. Fiona Bruce wants to know how an 18th century portrait of a lady ended up in the flat of Richard and Jenny Williams, a retired couple in Eastbourne. The investigation into the portrait of 'The Old Gentleman' takes an unexpected turn when the team delve into the story of owner Lance Miller's grandfather.
An enchanting sketch of a dancer believed to have been drawn by Auguste Rodin, the world's most famous sculptor, is the subject of the third episode.
Alice Thoday, a Lincolnshire resident with Belgian roots, inherited the rare watercolour from her mother. It could be worth over £100,000 - but the trouble is, Rodin is one of the world's most faked artists.
In the second episode, the team are on the trail of what could be a long-lost masterpiece by French painter Paul Delaroche.
Art dealer Neil Wilson's quest to prove it was genuine was tragically cut short when he died of a brain tumour, but his widow Becky wants the team to finish the job. Could the picture have been a treasured possession of Marie Amelie, the last Queen of France?
Art series with Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould. Fake or Fortune returns with one of the most challenging cases the team has ever encountered. Can art detectives Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce prove that a painting of a man in a black cravat is one of the first pictures ever painted by celebrated and controversial British artist Lucian Freud, even though Freud himself denied painting it? London-based designer Jon Turner is eager to prove that a painting he inherited from two friends is in fact an early portrait painted by Freud whilst at art school in 1939. If it's genuine, it could be worth around half a million pounds. But who is the mysterious man in the portrait - and why did Freud deny it was his work? As the team hunt for clues, they are drawn into a world of feuds, rivalries and intrigue. Can those who knew Freud best help unlock the painting's secrets?
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