Fake painting sold for £165k is ‘worthless’

♦ A fake painting bought for £165,000 attributed to William Nicholson has been deemed virtually worthless by the artist’s leading expert.

The still life of a glass jug and pears was rejected by Patricia Reed, and left out of the artist’s latest catalogue raisonné – the list of all his known works.

The piece was examined on BBC One’s Fake Or Fortune? but a thorough forensic case was not enough to persuade Reed.

The programme obtained evidence that linked the work to Nicholson’s own paint box, which is kept in his grandson’s house, and a handwriting expert also confirmed that writing on its back was very likely to have been written by Nicholson.

Fiona Bruce, its presenter, met John Myatt, the reformed art forger, to ask if he had ever faked a Nicholson. He had, but not this painting. The show found that while there were aspects to the work that linked it to Nicholson, there was not enough evidence to prove that he executed it.