Fake or Fortune?
Is a Surrey couple’s painting the work of a famous abstract artist – and can they remove it in one piece?
Tuesday, 8pm, BBC1 Factual
Fiona Bruce and art dealer Philip Mould team up once more to investigate whether intriguing artworks are priceless – or worthless! – as
Fake or Fortune? returns for its 10th series. In the first of four new investigations, the pair head to Surrey to meet Ian and Julie, who want to know if an artwork painted on to the wall of a spare room was created by 20thcentury abstract artist Ben Nicholson.
Paintings by celebrated artists can be sold for millions at auction, and Ian and Julie from Surrey want to know if a piece of artwork in their spare room was painted by artist Ben Nicholson, a key figure in 20th-century Britain’s abstract-art movement.
As BBC1’S Fake or Fortune? returns for its 10th series, host Fiona Bruce and art dealer Philip Mould investigate the couple’s potentially priceless painting. And both are shocked when they discover it’s literally painted on the wall at Ian and Julie’s home!
Delicate touch
‘This is the first time we’ve considered a painting with a house attached to it,’ says Philip. ‘Firstly, could we prove Ben Nicholson had painted that art? Then, if genuine, could we safely remove it? Cracks were already running through the painting. So we knew, whatever the outcome, this picture was in peril.’
Fiona and Philip use old-fashioned detective skills and cutting-edge science to unlock the mystery behind the intriguing work… ‘This painting wasn’t in the art-history books, so we had to go back in time, looking at photos, talking to neighbours, and doing forensic analysis,’ reveals Philip. ‘I feel “sleuthy” when I’m in a lab with Professor Aviva Burnstock, our go-to for forensics. We might be examining an infrared photo that looks not just at the painting but through it. Suddenly, the artist’s ideas, hesitations and ambitions come to the surface. I enjoy nailing the psychology of the artist – but I can’t paint to save my life!’