Art whodunnit?
Philip and Fiona investigate an old master in a Scottish church, but who’s the artist?
The Antwerp Mannerists were an unidentified group of painters of Renaissance art, active in Antwerp and other Belgian/ Flemish cities in the early 16th century.
When the Fake or Fortune? team is called to examine an oil painting hanging in a church in Scotland, Fiona Bruce and art dealer Philip Mould begin investigating a mysterious whodunnit…
For their final case of the series, Fiona and Philip’s journey begins at St John the Baptist Catholic church in Port Glasgow. There, they find an intriguing painting of Jesus Christ.
Transplanted
‘This wonderful old master, hung in the shadows at the back of the church, has possibly been there since the early 16th century,’ explains Philip. ‘Art historian Ian Macdonald had been asked to investigate but he died last year before finding out who’d painted it. Ian’s wife, Marjorie, felt there was unfinished business, so contacted us.’
How could the work of the Antwerp Mannerists end up in Scotland? And, with no obvious signature, will they discover who painted it? Fiona and Philip fly to Belgium in search of clues...
‘We know very little about the artists who worked in Antwerp in the 1550s and 1600s as they were anonymous,’ says Philip. ‘Our journey takes us to the dark ages of art history.’