I know absolutely nothing about establishing art provenance but I did think, while watching Fake or Fortune? (BBC1), \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of experts if they pass the buck?\u201d Come on, guys, it\u2019s a TV show! Be decisive and give us a happy ending (so to speak).<\/p>\n
Barry James, a carer and art collector, brought in his lovely oil painting of a summer\u2019s day at Herstmonceux Castle in east Sussex that said on the back it had been painted by Winston Churchill in June 1916. He had paid \u00a3140 for it at an antiques fair. But when it came to authenticating, despite much supporting evidence collected by Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce, no one wanted to take responsibility. Experts sat on the fence and said they were passing on the right to authenticate to the auction houses. But the auction houses effectively handed it back and said, \u201cWe\u2019d rather not, thanks.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe find ourselves in a bamboozling position,\u201d said Mould, who sometimes reminds me of Hugh Grant. I did agree with the head of Bonhams, who said: \u201cWe really want to rely on the opinion of recognised experts, people who have dedicated their entire lives and careers to the study of his work.\u201d Well, exactly.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Fiona Bruce: \u2018No one knows if I am woke or not\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Again, I am clueless in this field so I may be missing the point (I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll tell me if I am) but it did seem to me very, very likely that it was painted by Churchill. Experts pointed to the flowers being identical to ones in corroborated art of Churchill\u2019s. Others cited the way he did snaky squiggles in the sky and \u201cM\u201d letters in the trees. Mould said the figure in the painting (said to be Clementine, Churchill\u2019s wife) was mannequin-like, which is his style. And we know that he was staying at the castle in 1916, often using the cottage as a holiday home. Call me easily convinced, but who else painted it with exactly his flourishes if it wasn\u2019t him?<\/p>\n True, it was a bit of a blow that a handwriting expert said the inscription on the back didn\u2019t match Churchill\u2019s writing. But it did match that of his politician friend Claude Lowther, who owned the castle. Maybe Churchill gave it to him, then Lowther wrote it on the back? I felt for Barry. As it stood it was worth about \u00a3100,000 but if he could get actual documentary proof it could be worth more than \u00a3600,000. He decided to wait. You could see it meant a lot to him.<\/p>\n Barry was an interesting man. He collected art as a form of respite from caring for his disabled son and said he had bought \u201cthousands\u201d of paintings but his wife wouldn\u2019t let him put any on the walls. She preferred photos of the children. He had tried taking this work to auction houses before contacting Fake or Fortune? but was not taken seriously. He said it was because of \u201cthe way I speak and the way I dress \u2026 I don\u2019t look like a typical art person\u201d. I can believe that.<\/p>\n \u2022 How best to display your art with Art in Isolation\u2019s Philip Mould<\/a><\/p>\n So we were left at a bit of an impasse by the end. But it had been an engrossing trip through art history and Churchill\u2019s life. I hope they\u2019ll revisit Barry again one day when he has found his proof, and is considerably richer. Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix<\/a>, the best Prime Video TV shows<\/a>, the best Disney+ shows<\/a>, the best Apple TV+ shows<\/a>, the best shows on BBC iPlayer<\/a>, the best shows on Sky and Now<\/a>, the best shows on ITVX<\/a>, the best shows on Channel 4<\/a> streaming, the best shows on Paramount+<\/a> and our favourite hidden gem TV shows<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to check our critics\u2019 choices to what to watch this week<\/a>, and browse our comprehensive TV guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I know absolutely nothing about establishing art provenance but I did think, while watching Fake or Fortune? (BBC1),…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-14806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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