Antiques expert sold £2m Constable for just £35k . . . and says he’s happy!
AS A renowned art dealer, Philip Mould could be forgiven for wanting a stiff drink at the news he sold a £2million painting for a mere £35,000.
But the TV presenter and antiques expert insists he is happy about missing out on the windfall – because it proves that he was right about the artwork all along.
Mr Mould saw the painting while browsing through items at a major London auction house in the mid-1990s, and was convinced it was an original by John Constable.
He bought the sketch depicting an alternative view of Constable’s 1821 classic The Hay Wain for £10,000 and tried to have it authenticated.
But he twice failed to convince the experts and he grudgingly sold it for £35,000.
Now, 20 years later, in the new series of BBC1’s Fake or Fortune, he has been able to re-examine the painting alongside copresenter Fiona Bruce and its current owner, Henry Reed.
Advances in digital technology enabled the team to track down long-buried sales records to build a provenance trail, and infrared photography revealed the painting was in keeping with Constable’s techniques.
The evidence was presented to two of the world’s top Constable experts and, finally, they confirmed Mr Mould’s original hunch. The painting has been verified as an original and is now worth £2million.
Mr Mould said: ‘I’m really happy to know that I was not deluded. I’m thrilled for Henry, its owner. And also for Constable himself who must been a little peeved up there that his hand had been demoted to an imitator or, more insulting still, a faker.’