Western Daily Press (Saturday)

THE FALLEN MADONNA WITH THE BIG PRICE TAG

- ADRIAN HEARN news@westerndai­lypress.co.uk

THE topless portrait from the 1980s sitcom ’Allo ’Allo is to be sold at auction in the West Country after hanging on a living room wall for more than ten years.

Fallen Madonna With The Big Boobies, painted by the fictional artist Van Clomp, was a central prop in the Second World War-based sitcom, starring the late Gordon Kaye.

It depicts a bare-breasted woman with a mountain scene behind and was the star of a number of scenes in the wartime romp, with the Nazis desperate to steal the ‘masterpiec­e’ from the French Resistance.

Kaye, who died last year, played the lead role of Rene Artois, the cafe owner who hid the coveted painting from the Nazis by wearing it under his shirt and rolling it inside a knockwurst sausage.

The owner bought it from the production designer of the final series, Shaun Moore, at a school fundraiser in 2007 and it has been hanging over the dinner table in his living room for the past ten years.

He has now decided to sell it through East Bristol Auctions, which has given it a guide price of £5,000 to £10,000.

It will be sold in Hanham, Bristol, on December 1 and comes framed and with various prop newspaper cuttings on the reverse.

Andrew Stowe, auctioneer at East Bristol Auctions, said: “It is an absolutely iconic piece of television history – this isn’t just a background prop, this is something the entire show was based around.

“It’s been stuffed in sausages, buried in the ground and it is now stowed away in our safe.

“In an ironic way, this ‘worthless’ fictional painting has become its own masterpiec­e.

“It is estimated at £5,000 to £10,000 and we’re expecting a lot of interest from all over the world. We’re certainly hoping that it’ll be a ‘good moaning’ come the auction day.

“It’s one of those items that was featured in nearly every episode of the sitcom, and it is somewhat funny that most people know this fictional painting more than some of the greatest paintings in the world.

“In most people’s psyche, this ranks up there alongside Van Gogh and Constable. It really is a British masterpiec­e.

“TV memorabili­a is huge at the moment and ’Allo ’Allo is so well loved – I don’t think there is another British sitcom that carried so many catchphras­es, and everyone knows them.

“Ever since it’s been in our sale-

It is an absolutely iconic piece of television history that the entie show was based around ANDREW STOWE

room the staff have been greeting each other with ‘good moaning’ and there’s many a reference to a ‘dicky ticker’.

“It just brings a smile to everyone’s face. I can’t think of a more iconic piece of artwork from a British television show – it’s a true classic.”

The painting appeared in the final episode of the show in 1992, where, after having gone missing since the end of the war, it is discovered in the arm of a statue outside ‘Café Rene’.

Having had a ‘booby’ removed in a previous series, the painting and missing part are reunited once more.

Mr Stowe added: “It’s been hanging on the vendor’s living room wall for some ten years – right there above their dining table.

“The vendor’s wife said they would often look up at it and smile.

“We’re honoured to have this icon of British comedy in our saleroom. As a running gag throughout the entire show, this is practicall­y a main member of the cast.”

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 ?? Photo: Tom Wren/SWNS ?? Auctioneer Andrew Stowe shows off ‘Fallen MadonnaWit­h The Big Boobies’
Photo: Tom Wren/SWNS Auctioneer Andrew Stowe shows off ‘Fallen MadonnaWit­h The Big Boobies’

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