Was Philip Wrong About This Gainsborough Painting 20 Years Ago? | Fake Or Fortune?

foreign [Music] the art world where paintings change hands for fortunes so thank you very much but for every known Masterpiece there may be another still waiting to be discovered this is it International art dealer Philip mold and I have teamed up to hunt for lost works by great artists we use old-fashioned detective work and state-of-the-art science to get to the truth science can enable us to see beyond the human eye oh my goodness every case is packed with surprise and Intrigue is it or isn't it afraid then but not every painting is quite what it seems gosh why didn't I notice that before it's a journey that can end in Joy there is enough to support the conclusion that it is by Tom Robert I don't think it's a work by Gogan I'm very sorry in this episode can we prove this is a lost work by one of the biggest names in British art Thomas Gainsborough could yours be the missing picture that's what we had to find out isn't it our investigation takes us on a thrilling Journey back through time tantalizingly close that's so close will we uncover long lost Secrets I don't believe it I mean isn't this absolutely staggering we encounter an Artful Pretender in a story full of twists and turns this could be rather tricky For You Phillip is there a chance that you and the Gainsborough Authority 20 years ago got it wrong and with a 19th century art Market flooded with Gainsborough imitations were in treacherous Waters reject it may be that a faker is repurposing an earlier canvas [Music] we're called to the Far Corners of the country to help viewers investigate their mysterious works of art this case brings us to Cumbria and the Lake District nestled in the Foothills is the village of burnishide home to one of the country's oldest paper mills hello hi there hello there hello we've come to meet chairman Mark Cropper who's asked for our help he's the sixth generation to work at the family Factory and he believes he may have inherited a lost Masterpiece right so here it is God how fascinating well so we've got a group of rustic figures beneath what looks like an oak tree clustered around a cooking pot and a rather miserable looking donkey and this was a theme the idea of figures next to trees next to a wood that was returned to again and again by the greatest of those landscape painters of the 18th century Thomas Gainsborough it could be a Gainsborough dear well I I hope it might be Thomas Gainsborough is one of the most celebrated names in British art born in Suffolk in 1727 he made his reputation and his fortune as a society Portrait Painter he was an artist of choice amongst the aristocracy but if portraiture was his work landscape painting was his pleasure Gainsborough was drawn to the countryside its character and atmosphere its people and animals inspired a lifetime's work during the 18th century there was little appetite for landscape paintings but Gainsborough helped Elevate the genre inspiring a whole new tradition in British landscape art could Mark's picture be by the same artist that had helped start this revolution so how did you come by this painting the picture's been in my family for Generations I don't know how many generations but certainly several do you like it I'm not sure I love it it's quite gloomy and dark I mean it might partly be the condition it needs to have some more love shown to it I think so what makes you think it might be at work by the Greek Thomas Gainsborough it was attributed to Gainsborough at one time we've got a 1920s valuation that names it as a Gainsborough and it had a Gainsborough plaque on it at the same time what went wrong with it then well it was um valued in the late 1970s um in my father's time and he was told that it was um by another artist called Barker of of bath Oh Thomas Barker of bath bit of a bin name I'm afraid oh dear to who was Barca bar well a very competent artist who could emulate quite closely gainsborough's techniques was highly influenced by his work sometimes copied them and is infuriating because time and time again when people think they have a Gainsborough they're told it's a barker of both well this has actually even been downgraded since then to a follower of Barker so it's even worse it's even worse than that yeah that's bad so that's why the name's been scratched off in Anger there is father took the label off and threw it away said Gainsborough ended up yeah or in the bin in the bin I feel slightly bad asking but I mean if this is by an imitator of Gainsborough what's it worth compared to if it is by the great man himself well by by a sort of follower we could be talking High hundreds perhaps low thousands if it's by Thomas Gainsborough then therein lies the magic it could be a hundred thousand pounds wow that's quite a difference isn't it yeah do you think you'd like a bit more if we managed to attach the name games bro uh yes without a doubt and then perhaps you could put that right I would love to stick the label back on it stick Mark has delved into the family archive to see if there's any documentation that might give us Clues to the past life of his picture so here is the earliest written record we've got of the picture in the family's possession it's dated 1929 it's a valuation and Ella green Ella green is the name of the house where the family were living at the time oh yes look at Gainsborough loud and proud it's there yeah oil painting landscape with gypsies around a fire I was in the telephone rooms how fantastic so here it is 1929 a Gainsborough and then what happened well we've got the 1977 valuation and in that the attribution has changed well it's a wooded landscape with a gypsy encampment but it's Thomas Barker of bath no mention of games he's gone two FIT is a Gainsborough what will that mean to you well it would be amazing yeah I would really be very happy of course in a way equally fascinating is just to find out more and Trace to you know take that Journey back you know I'm really really excited about just doing that back in London we're getting to grips with the challenge ahead Mark's picture is an image I recognize because the same scene appears in a famous Gainsborough print so this is a print over painting by Thomas Gainsborough of the same subject that he did in around about 1753 or four but here's the Intriguing bit for many years the original painting from which this print was taken was considered lost does it look familiar well yes I mean it's it's very similar to Mark's picture Acceptance in Reverse yes it is it's a mirror image but when a painting is turned into a print the process creates a reverse image so are you saying then that Mark's painting could be the Los Gainsborough well before I can answer that I need to tell you about a picture that I had dealings with around about 20 years ago back in 1999 I was getting known for specializing in Gainsborough having discovered several works by the artist I was shown a picture that looked just like Mark's painting the owner believed he'd found the Los Gainsborough landscape and I thought it looked right it had been doubted as a genuine work by Thomas Gainsborough since the 1960s but when it came into the gallery we cleaned it and restored it and showed it to the then Authority on the works of Thomas Gainsborough who accepted it as an original and it was then sold at Autumn so hang on then what does this mean for Mark's picture well Mark's picture wasn't around at the time and I have to say seeing it now gives me pause for thought Mark's picture has been buried in a private collection hidden from public view none of gainsborough's authorities knew of its existence I can't help but wonder what they'd make of it now that it's emerged from the Shadows this painting looks old the colors the the blues and the Reds they have a mellow 18th century appearance just the sort of thing that you would expect in the 1700s in the same Century that Gainsborough was painting you can see crackly old drying cracks yes and these cracks aren't easy to fake are they they're not impossible to fake but those look real what about the figures do they look as if games were could have painted them do you think they look to me convincingly well painted they're they're Swift they're not labored and it's almost as if they're characters on a stage that have been rather cleverly lit and I like that this is a painting of quality It Is by someone who can unquestionably paint and on the back of Mark's picture there is a cluster of clues that could shed light on its mysterious past well this is interesting look we've got sorts of things here labels stencils this is great this is a picture that's had a history yeah this looks like a picture that's been through galleries sale rooms possibly private collections there's enough here for us to want to find out more be rather tricky you couldn't feel it I mean is there a chance that Mark's picture is the Lost Gainsborough and this other one well you and the Gainsborough Authority 20 years ago got it wrong well I hate to say it but I think we've got to explore that possibility see not everybody got behind the attribution at the time some people thought it was a copy in that the original picture was still out there to be found is there any chance of seeing that painting in the flesh unfortunately we don't know where it is because after it was sold it disappeared into a private collection the point is Mark's picture has now turned up and we cut to establish what it is if it turns out to be the Lost Gainsborough then well then we'll have to set the record straight search of evidence Mark and I are heading to the Royal Academy in London Gainsborough was one of the founding members of this great Art institution it holds a fine collection of works by the artist we've come here to take a closer look at the series of prints that replicated gainsborough's original gypsies picture the existence of these early reproductions made the whereabouts of the original painting one of the great mysteries of British landscape art a mystery that has caught Mark's attention when my father told me that this picture had a Gainsborough label on it at one time of course I did the natural thing I went online and I found an image which is a print done by Gainsborough himself copying his own oil painting called the gypsies now what is really thrilling is that it is a replica of what could be a lost picture well when I found that out you can imagine I was quite excited about it no wonder you were excited hey what are you excited about so the big question is could yours be the missing picture that's what we had to find out isn't it before we get carried away I need to address an obvious concern gainsborough's print was published in 1759 and again in 1764 on sale in print shops his gypsies thus became a famous image this gives us quite a tempering thought because if this image was freely available yeah people could have copied it yes now that's sort of back down to earth isn't it this could easily be a copy of that over the years copies made of this famous print have masqueraded as gainsborough's original gypsies I've been considering whether Mark's picture could be one of those Pretenders I'm going to give you some reassuring thoughts on this because I don't think that your painting could be a copy of this print for two reasons the first is this is in Reverse this is the mirror image so if you were painting a painting based on a print like that you'd have done it that way around yeah but this is not but also have you notice that there are details in this print that you actually don't get in yours by flipping the print around you can see that certain features are missing from Mark's painting now if this was a copy of the print you'd expect to see the tree at the edge of the picture the birds in the sky and the baby in the basket I mean whoever was painting your picture would have Incorporated those if they were basing it on the print so I cannot conceive of anyone painting your picture on the basis of this print that really does leave the option that your painting could be the Los Gainsborough or if it's not then it's a copy based on the original painting by Gainsborough there's a way to make an entrance my destiny it was now a conspiracy of witches download vili today I guess we've got to find that out but it's it's a good start isn't it it's a very good place to be Gallery I'm trying to find out more about gainsborough's original gypsies painting fortunately for us the two great Gainsborough Scholars of the 20th century Sir Ellis Waterhouse and John Hayes tried to track it down this is the catalog resume of gainsborough's Landscapes the authorized list of his Works compiled by John Hayes in 1982 and there is an entry for the Lost Gainsborough and what's brilliant is it the provenance of the Los Gainsborough is listed here I mean normally we have to do all this work with a painting but it's all written down here it's the list of sales and auctions it went through who owned it and when and this is such a gift for us because if the provinos of Mark's picture matches what's written down here then that could mean that Marx is the Lost Gainsborough it's like a map for us to follow through time and the first place on that map is shagbraham so that's where we need to go we're on the trail of gainsborough's lost landscape the catalog resume has led us to Staffordshire and this glorious stately home shagra Hall built in the 1740s this was once the ancestral pile of the Earls of Litchfield [Music] their vast art collection once adorned these walls we've been searching through the archives to find if there's anything to link Mark's picture to the Lost landscape now what the reason I've brought you here to sober Hall is that according to the catalog resonant this is where the Lost Gainsborough once hung all right and it was owned by this man Thomas William Anson who was the first Earl of Litchfield and he liked to party he had extravagant parties here and you like to gamble like cards on the horses I think I can see where this is going so much so that in 1842 he was forced to sell off the entire contents oh my God of this place been a 16 day kind of fire sale and on the ninth day have a look at this so we've got Gainsborough here lot 77 and upright landscape with gypsies in front seated around a fire a bit of an old stump of a tree so does that sound like you're painting well it's promising so the question is of course is your picture this picture I don't know well neither do I not at this stage but we have made a promising start we found a reassuring description that matches Mark's picture but there aren't any labels that prove with certainty his is the shagra hall painting tantalizingly though I may have discovered a link to a later owner in the provenance of the Lost picture there's one rather interesting name here which is Henry Graves so this is a picture of the back of your painting what's it say there let me make it bigger for you Henry Graves sorry this is really exciting it is exciting it's hugely promising it doesn't prove that your painting is the Lost games but it doesn't prove it but what it does show at least according to Sir Ellis Waterhouse and John Hayes that you're painting shares one detail at the same provenance as the Los Gainsborough that is brilliant it really is I wasn't expecting that at all my sort of balloon of Hope has been inflated we're not there yet not by a country mile but we have made a really promising start Pinto unlock clues in the painting itself so I sent it to the courthouse Institute for forensic analysis Professor Aviva bernstock is one of the world's leading authorities in the scientific study of art her research could provide vital evidence to prove whether Mark's painting is a genuine Gainsborough or an imposter by another hand so the big question is is this the Lost Thomas Gainsborough landscape and part of the problem is the catalog resume irritatingly doesn't give us the dimensions the all-important measurements of this lost picture you know he says here canvas size unknown I mean there's nothing more annoying than something that's unknown and rather crucial except I think we might be making a bit of progress on the back of this page you'll recall there's a label which identifies its painting's ownership by Henry Graves and here he is all right Henry Graves was a prince seller an art dealer and according to the catalog resume the Lost Gainsborough was with him in 1885. 1885 is a very big year for Thomas Gainsborough because in that year the Grosvenor Gallery a very significant institution held a major exhibition of the artist's work there were 200 of his Works they were lent by the Great and the good of the day the queen at the top here so you don't get better than that it gets better still because in the exhibition catalog itself number 202 would you like to read it out gypsies lent by Henry Graves a squire but the beautiful edit extra are the dimensions of this lost picture it says canvas 29 times 24 and a half inches so here's the canvas okay I see what this is for will the dimensions of Mark's picture match up with the painting The hung in this major Gainsborough exhibition right that's 30 inches or nearly 30 inches okay width bye 25 so close but no it's not a slam dunk is it oh hang on a minute I think the painting's been re-lined you can see that the actual painted surface is smaller than the lining fabric so perhaps we can just try and measure the picture clean itself exactly 29 inches and this is 24 and a half inches so we're back on here that's it yeah well you know what this means don't you it means that your picture was included in this extraordinarily illustrious exhibition in 1885 you know the the Trophy Works of Thomas Gainsborough coming from all different parts of the country arriving Under One Roof and your painting was there with all the eyes I can't believe it now it doesn't 100 tell us that this is by Gainsborough but what it does show is at that date in 1885 yours was considered to be a trophy Gainsborough that is amazing you know I would never ever have guessed that's it really is incredible across town I'm continuing the provenance investigation according to the catalog resume the Lost landscape passed through Christie's Auction House three times a stencil on the back of Mark's picture looks similar in style to those used by Christie's I'm heading there to see if I can establish a link to any of those sales archivist Linda McLeod has agreed to help cool thank you very much so Linda what I'm wondering is if this number means anything to you is that a Christie's number it is a Christie's number all items that come into Christie's are assigned a stock number this particular stock number refers to 1881 1883 period okay and this stock number 55 n refers to a consignment of two books oh that was all going so well unless we can link the stock number on the back of Mark's picture to these sales of gainsborough's lost gypsies our provenance Search is Over but Linda may have made a discovery I had a look up the 27th of May 1882 sale and when you look through the volume here we've got the gypsies so that looks like the right painting and look at the stock number it's 555 [Music] tantalizingly close that's so close 555 in as opposed to five five n we can clearly see here that Henry Graves who's consigned 12 pictures oh no that is a name that we are now very familiar with Henry graves because we know according to catalog resume that he owned the Lost Gainsborough and what's the date again 1882 well that is genius but it's but it's not quite a quiet same number it isn't it's not the same number so I wonder whether there may be another number obscured on the stretcher underneath that piece of paper that's been glued you're not actually supposed to do that of course oh so close but not quite tempting though it is to rip off that piece of paper we've come to the courthold Institute so that Aviva can try a less invasive approach the reason I brought you here Mark is because there's something rather intriguing on the back of your painting now I'm not 100 sure about it so I'm not going to tell you I'm going to keep you in suspense if that's all right it's fine Aviva do your magic [Music] Aviva is using an infrared camera which can detect carbon-based materials including ink [Music] the infrared Rays should penetrate through the paper to reveal if there's another number Hidden underneath the moment of truth [Music] there we are Bingo okay that's what I wanted to see thank you Aviva right can you see on the left hand side it says five five n by that scrap of paper yeah and Aviva through her magic has seen what's under the scrap of paper and it's actually five five five n well actually it's not magic it's just the infrared detector allows us to see through the paper I didn't even remove the paper but you can see the five underneath yeah what does it mean the reason that matters is because stock number five five five n was given to your painting by Christie's May 27 1882 and it was listed for sale as an authentic Gainsborough Jesus bye Christie's bye Christie's so we are in lockstep with the catalog resonate here and it's one and the same great the provenance Trail for Mark's picture is looking promising but I need to address an obvious concern what about the picture that sold as the Lost Gainsborough nearly 20 years ago what provenance did it have to find out I've come to the Paul Mellon Center for studies in British art it holds the opinion files of the great Gainsborough Scholars at Ellis Waterhouse and John Hayes they had the authority to accept to work as by Gainsborough or Chuck it on the reject pile I'm hoping to find out more about the picture that claimed the lost gainsborough's title and it turns out that over the years there have been other contenders going through this lot I'm just beginning to get a sense of what we're up against because there are several pictures pertaining to be gainsbury's gypsies so let's look at this one for example so this is a reverse image of Mark's picture if you like and it's clearly a copy of the print so that got put on the reject pile other Pretenders are pastiches where an artist has painted a picture in the style of the gypsies reject so that's a reject as well so you've got a little collection of Broken Dreams here for various owners and then we have this picture which was accepted as by Gainsborough and this is the one that Philip saw some 20 years ago and he helped get it authenticated by John Hayes now if you look at the sales catalog for that picture what I've noticed is that the provenos has the caveat possibly right at the beginning a pretty sizable caveat but a chunk of the provenos is the same as for Mark's picture and we know that now because we've matched some of the labels on the back of his painting to sales and exhibitions listed here so how can you have the same provinos for two different paintings what's going on we've not been able to track down the present owners of the painting which was sold in 2001 but the son of the previous owner has agreed to tell me what he knows about the picture hi there hello nice to see you John day's father Harold day ran a gallery specializing in East anglian art he spotted the picture at a country sale in Suffolk in the 1960s [Music] my father believed that it was an original Thomas Gainsborough but the experts at the time weren't prepared to authenticate it mainly because it was still covered in Old varnish and hadn't been cleaned for years so what happened to it so we put it into store and then in the 1990s we called in Fuller mold and he arranged to have it cleaned and subsequently he's always suggesting a good clean and subsequently showed it to the expert of the day John Hayes and we got a lovely letter from him okay Dear Mr day my view following conservation is that your picture is indeed the original Gainsborough of this subject as you suspected when you bought it just over 40 years ago and of course here it is on the cover of a catalog and is this your father's writing it is yes this Gainsborough was discovered by me what's that inside Suffolk circa 1960 Harold day yes so he was very proud yes it validated his original opinion what was your father able to find out about the provinos of his picture well my father's painting when he bought it had been re-lined re-backed onto a new canvas probably a hundred years ago and it had new wooden stretcher at the back so any evidence and labels would have been lost yeah so there was nothing on the back door so now you've got another painting that's come along and is vying for the Gainsborough crown what do you make of that but I'm very confident my father's original opinion was correct and of course it was backed up by John Hayes and of course Sullivan's successfully sold the painting as well so this judgment stands it does yes as far as I'm concerned John clearly thinks his father was right about his picture and despite the lack of provenance and the expert at the time agreed on silistic grounds but Mark's picture has better problems it has more evidence that links it with the past life of the Lost Gainsborough crucially the expert at the time John Hayes never saw Mark's picture he never even knew it existed sadly he's no longer with us but I can't help wondering what he'd make of it back at the courthouse Institute Aviva is continuing her technical study of Mark's picture she's using Imaging techniques to reveal what the eye can't see infrared and x-ray photography can penetrate deep into the canvas unlocking Clues within the layers of paint we've been summoned to the lab because she's found something quite unexpected look at the landscape and a remarkable Discovery will appear a mysterious figure buried beneath the paint this is the infrared I don't believe it oh my God that's utterly astonishing it's amazing isn't it so you can see very clearly a beautiful young woman underneath the gypsies I mean isn't this absolutely staggering I mean all the time in a sort of phantom-like way through the branches she's been looking at us it was completely unexpected the infrared image has partially uncovered a long-lost portrait will an x-ray reveal her further so here it is [Music] really really incredible so here you can see her much more clearly you can see her completely painted you can hardly see the painting on top although if you look closely you can see the highlights of the leaves here I'm actually amazed I I I'd almost don't believe it to be honest I have to say it does beg a belief doesn't it well it's one of the clearest images I've ever seen it completely taught me by surprise I had no idea that we would find this portrait underneath I mean I find it so poignant that this must be the first time in what I don't know 250 years possibly that she's she's surfaced she's come back to life who is she although it's a wonderful thought that there is a portrait beneath this landscape I can't see how Gainsborough could have painted this this startling Discovery could spell bad news for Mark's picture looking at her face looking at the way that her dress is done looking at the way that her hair is swept back this is not from the period of Thomas Gainsborough could be I don't know 1700 to about 1720. a good generation before Thomas Gainsborough before he started painting now whoever painted the landscape on top for whatever reason has repurposed an earlier picture we need to ask them why now I'm a bit more pained now about about her appearing lovely though she is this could be a major setback the gallery I'm updating Fiona I wonder who she is well whoever she is she's not by Gainsborough well is it possible though that games were painted was on top I'm afraid I've not seen any evidence of gainsbury reusing another artist's work but it's a possibility isn't it but I suppose it's not impossible if an artist is really hard up that they would use somebody else's canvas and we do know that in the 1750s he'd slightly hit the buffers there's a really poignant letter to his landlady I called yesterday upon a friend in hopes of borrowing money to pay you but was disappointed I'm sorry it happened so but you know I can't make money any more than yourself and this lovely signature at the bottom Thomas Gainsborough but what's really interesting is the date of this letter it's been dated to 1752 to three exactly the moment that we know that he was painting the gypsies so it's possible surely then that Gainsborough did reuse another artist's canvas because he couldn't afford to buy one of his own it's also possible that someone other than Gainsborough spells raise a rather Sinister thought if you're a faker and you wanted to create the illusion of age you might well use an old canvas and then of course there's the possibility that a copyist might have just simply used it because it was there to hand you know a nice looking canvas of the right size I wonder if we can find who she is and who painted her that might get us closer to finding out who painted the scene on top yeah but I wish you luck because this is a formulaic face painted at a time when there are so many other portraits that look extremely similar it's a Herculean task not one to pass up a challenge I'm heading to the wit library on the trail of our mystery sitter it holds over 2 million reproductions of works of art I'm hoping their files of early 18th century portraits might give us some clue as to who this woman was and who might have painted her that might bring us closer to finding out who painted the gypsy's landscape well Philip wasn't kidding when he said this would be a challenge I mean if we just take the two leading portrait artists of the early 18th century there are 20 boxes of works by Godfrey Nella and seven by Michael Dahl and then each box contains hundreds of portraits so we've had a researcher go through all of them yeah and they are remarkably similar and that's before you go on to the other artist for the period [Music] we haven't found her yet but I'm hoping some Innovative Tech can help the wit is in the final stages of a groundbreaking project to scan catalog and make available online 260 000 images of British art facial recognition technology can search through the database to find a face in a crowd hello Fiona hi tone nice to see you head of digital Tom Bilson has agreed to show me how the software can seek out art history doppelgangers [Music] oh my God so you're using this technology which basically takes a face in this case mine and then search through the whole library or everything you've digitized so far yes that's correct to see who else looks like that yeah similar eyes similar nodes similar jawline similar hair they all go to making a match let's try the next one oh no well the software does right God that was a better try number three oh so now I'm pre-raphaelite I can sort of see the similarities it's that eyebrow isn't it again tease about so much wow this is so cool it's like something out of sort of spy movie or something and what about our lady then if you've managed to fight her well we've had a good look we found hundreds that appear like our picture or share similarities gosh have you managed to narrow it down at all we did the search on the face and these are our top eight they all share certain characteristics well they do actually don't they because they've all got this very narrow straight nose these dough like eyes but they're not her are they no and from this period of late 17th to early 18th century it was an artistic school of thought at the time to paint women all more or less in the same way with very similar features so that makes it so much harder doesn't it yes they all share the same Timeless image they're wearing the same clothing all the images I guess look like each other gosh we're so close I mean this is brilliant technology I have to say this is absolutely amazing it would take weeks to try and do this yeah it's just our bad luck that we've happened to have fallen upon a time where there was this this ideal of painting women and they all all look the same God how frustrating this portrait raises uncomfortable questions did a forger or imitator reuse an old canvas worryingly Mark's picture was downgraded to a copy by Barker of bath in the 70s it's now time to interrogate Barker as a key suspect during the 18th century bath was the place to be for an artist wishing to make a name Gainsborough prospered here for 16 years until he left in 1774. a decade later the young and talented Thomas Barker arrived hoping for fame and fortune I need to consider the possibility that Barker was the hand behind Mark's painting so I've come to the Victoria art gallery to examine his works ARCA was skilled at imitating other artists his ability to paint in the style of Gainsborough prompted one commentator to call him an imposter at the brush condemning his works deceptions this is a self-portrait of the young Thomas Barker of bath and look what he's painting a landscape upright rather gainsborough-esque in coloring and composition in fact it's not a million miles away from the gypsies standing over him is Charles spakman a local entrepreneur who took Barker under his wing and paid for his training he looks like the hard Taskmaster that we know he was he got Parker to go around the big houses in bath and copy some of the works of the Masters it's said that on one occasion he got him to paint the same picture 130 times in order to get it right copied pictures hanging in and around bath and of course works by Gainsborough or in plentiful Supply here this painting landscape with Woodcutter by Thomas Gainsborough was owned by an eminent bath physician called Dr Rice Charlton and this is Thomas Barker's copy of it it's only a black and white photograph because the original is missing shows that Barker wasn't just painting in the style of Gainsborough he was making exact copies to determine whether Mark's picture is a copy by this Artful imitator Aviva has joined me to have a closer look at Barker's techniques and pigments history has not been kind to Barker and many of his pictures are now consigned to museum basements we're looking at not one but four Thomas barkers it's almost as if you're meeting the man in terms of trying to get to know what he's about and what blows you away is how much he's trying to be like Gainsborough and actually almost succeeding don't you yes in every picture there's that very fluid sky and that transparent if I can look at it with my torch is that transparent foliage and I see that in Gainsborough quite a lot and then of course the subjects themselves Landscapes with figures occupied in some rustic activity it feels to me that we got to the stage where our eye can only tell us so much it's essential to know what's going on inside well I think we can look at the surface of pictures and we can see how the paint is handled but it might also be useful to see what the layer structure is what the composition of the pigments are to see whether we can see similarities Aviva is taking tiny samples of paint from Barker's work so that she could compare the pigments to those used in Mark's picture Barker had enough skill to make a convincing copy of gainsborough's gypsies but he'd have needed access to the original so where was it hanging at the time to find out I'm back on the Providence Trail the catalog resonate tells us when Barker was in bath gainsborough's lost gypsies was owned by a man named John wilcher and guess what he lived at a grand estate just a few miles away this is shokowick house it's glorious Mansion is now a care home several works by Gainsborough were once proudly on display here and we know this because there was a sale of John wilch's collection in 1867. so here we have the catalog of sale of the pictures that belong to John wilcher after his death so the celebrated shocker Wick collection including seven fine Works no less of T Gainsborough now amongst these works by Gainsborough if you get to page 11 what have we got here so we've got two games we're a landscape the gypsies were passed this is our scene I mean well it's not necessarily the same picture but it is the same it's the same position so how did it come into the possession of John wilcher John wilcher inherited many of his pictures from his grandfather Walter wilcher and he was a friend of gainsborough's Walter would invite the artist to come sketching here and it's known that Gainsborough gave him pictures this idea that Gainsborough gave his paintings to Walter wheelchair appears to be backed up at any rate by this ad for the 1867 sale and it talks of the celebrated pictures by Gainsborough from shockowic Park and it mentions the gypsies were passed which may or may not be your painting and it says all of which were obtained direct from the artist so all the gainsboroughs that were sold in the 1867 sale according to the ad for the sale came directly from Gainsborough himself well that's news that is totally new so if this is right it's a trail that takes us all the way back to Gainesville exactly it takes our picture here the whole way back if indeed that is one of the same and have you have you made any link between our picture and the wheelchair picture no I'm afraid we just cannot find any evidence any problems to link it it's really annoying even though we've now got all this new information the only provenance we have for your particular picture takes us back to 1882. so the provenos isn't quite getting us there so what we're left with is actually just looking at the picture itself [Music] with the provenos trail hitting a dead end I'm hoping science can help Aviva is taking samples of paint from Mark's picture so that she could compare the pigments to those used by Gainsborough and then those by his imitator Barker of bath [Music] we've invited conservator Rika Jones to lend her expertise Riker is a leading expert in the methods and materials of British artists and has an extensive knowledge of gainsborough's techniques we're going to examine a cross-section of Mark's picture looking at it layer by layer like slices of a cake the first layer is the ground the primer applied to the canvas to create the background on which to paint first of all the canvas was primed with this orange colored or orange and white colored ground which you can see here and then the portrait was painted on top of that we know Gainsborough didn't paint the portrait but could the orange ground give us some clue as to who did that to me looks like a ground of somebody who trained in the 17th century and may have been working into the 18th I've seen very similar in the work of Michael Dahl that's really exciting this is progress I mean we always knew there was a rather beautiful mysterious face beneath but we can now give the artists a neighbor likely name Michael Dahl you know one of the leading portrait painters of the early 18th century but it's the artist of the landscape that we need to identify can the pigments help us date the picture to the 18th century when Gainsborough was actually painting well it looks like uh the portrait was then painted out with a very dark paint layer and on top of that the landscape was painted none of the pigments that I found in this picture were invented in the 19th century so I do think this was made in the 18th century I mean that gives me a warm feeling I mean it rules out a 19th century fake or a 20th century Faker doesn't it the likelihood of it's being a 19th century artist because it's got no 19th century pigments it is remote or rather happily that still keeps gainsbury in the frame doesn't it well technically yes it does but gainsborough's imitator Barker of bath was also painting in the 18th century have you seen anything in this painting that is relatively Barker of bath well the paintings by bakra bath who love to paint on a dark gray background and like the one we've we've got here very similar So within this rather beautiful 18th century frame we have two possible artists Barker of bath Thomas Gainsborough would you be able to have a further look and give us your thoughts I'd be very happy to thank you yes thank you rika's assessment of Mark's picture is key to our case will she find the evidence to take us to Gainsborough thank you with the attribution of the picture hanging in the balance back at the gallery I've made an 11th Hour discovery that might bolster Mark's case so here's your picture mark and you remember that very exciting moment when we found this beautiful portrait underneath it then turned out perhaps not to be quite so exciting yeah it makes me nervous you show me that again well the thing is as we know Gainsborough could not have painted her because it's much too early so for your painting to be by Gainsborough he must have reused another artist's canvas now the difficulty was that we couldn't find any examples of games were doing that which obviously costs doubt on your picture yeah but who's off the press just last month the current Gainsborough Authority huberty has published this catalog resume of games with portraits and in it look at your face you don't know whether it's going to be good or bad do you in it he has a picture of this beautiful painting man and woman in a landscape and it's dated 1753 which is a significant date for us yeah no that's when the gypsies is meant to have been painted this was x-rayed [Music] foreign we have another lady don't we we do and crucially this portrait is not a portrait done by Gainsborough it was done by a man called William Keeble an artist and friend of Gainsborough so what this shows is that Gainsborough did reuse other artists canvases at that exact moment in the same year that he was painting the gypsies I mean I know it's circumstantial but that's that's pretty good isn't it it's brilliant Mark it's more than pretty good so here we have two pictures yours which you hope is by Gainsborough with a portrait underneath by another artist here we have an attributed recognized Gainsborough with a portrait underneath done by another artist and in the same year as the Gypsies and so if you're trying to build my hopes up you are well this you know this looked like a disaster and now with this new evidence it's actually working in your favor is it enough I can't be sure but it has come just in the nick of time the day has come to find out if Mark's picture is a genuine work by Thomas Gainsborough Hubli is one of the world's leading Gainsborough authorities it's his opinion that the Art Market seeks when it comes to authenticating Works believed to be by the artist we've invited Hugh to undertake a thorough examination of the painting while Aviva shares the technical findings made by her and Rika Jones is there enough evidence to convince him that Mark's picture is the Lost Gainsborough landscape [Music] an investigation that started out so well by decoding the labels on the back of Mark's picture we now know that a sizable chunk of the provenance of the Lost Gainsborough is actually the province of Mark's picture so that's got to mean something it was exhibited as a Gainsborough in the 1880s it passed through the hands of the auction house Christies as a Gainsborough in 1882 well we haven't managed to do though take the provenance of the picture back to Gainsborough himself and he died in 1788 so that is a big gap the discovery of that earlier portrait beneath was initially a problem but we've now established that gainsbury would sometimes reuse other people's paintings all the pigments in the picture are 18th century of the type that Gainsborough used there are no 19th century materials and let us not forget that for almost a hundred years this was known as a work by Thomas Gainsborough until it was demoted to Thomas Barker of bath Barker of bath that name we just can't get rid of it seems to me there's Gainsborough on one hand Walker of birth on the other it's going to be one or the other Mark is on his way to the gallery and we're all about to discover whether his painting has been accepted as a genuine work by Thomas Gainsborough hi Mark hello hi so this is it how are you feeling about it all I'm feeling quite uncertain about what I'm going to hear I honestly do not know what what you're going to tell me whether actually meets the grade and what would it mean to you if it is a Gainsborough if it is the Lost Gainsborough I'll be absolutely thrilled I really would well I hope it is uh remind us what's at stake here then Philip well if this is a genuine painting by Gainsborough the Lost landscape we could be talking a hundred thousand pounds if it's by Thomas Barker of bath copying against bro well that's rather different it's two to three thousand pounds and if it's just by any artist from the 18th century whose name we don't know perhaps a thousand pounds and it's not just the value though Philip is it because there's potentially the historical significance of this painting as well I mean it would be really thrilling if you could add the name Gainsborough it would become the Lost work people would would want to see it they'll talk about it it would enter art historical consciousness but that would mean then if this is a lost Gainsborough that other painting that you helped authenticate 20 years ago that you were wrong if it did turn out to be lost painting I would just have to take a Big Gulp and swallow my pride it wouldn't be the first time I have to say I'm as interested as you are to find out the outcome me I think states are quite High aren't they they are it's the moment of truth is Mark's picture the Lost Gainsborough landscape hello hello so have you reached your verdict I have come to a decision I've reviewed all the evidence and taking into consideration the remarkable technical research that both Aviva and Rika Jones have done on the picture I think it's not by Gainsborough but by Barker of bath [Laughter] I feel really mean sorry I'm so sorry after all this what what do you think um well I'm gussed so this has got the Hallmarks of the imitator yes he was a he was very clever and the certain ways that he handles paint um that is very much like him and not like anybody else really it lacks the subtlety that gainsbury comes up with it's too tentative somehow it's too reserved he would have been much Freer than that oh well I feel so disappointed for you I I have to say as I know how much this means to you what were you do with this now well you know I really wanted to stick the Gainsborough label back on it so that's not gonna that's not gonna happen so I I'm not sure I mean I I think one thing if I was being very philosophical about it is that actually what you've revealed is the most amazing Story the ups and downs that this beautiful woman behind it's an object of some value somehow in that way but obviously not monetary but there's one final twist in this Tale portrait buried beneath the landscape is almost certainly by Michael Dahl one of the leading portrait artists of the early 18th century the value of the Michael Dahl could be six to eight thousand pounds so the picture underneath is actually worth more than the picture on top [Music] what a mess well look you've got a great story to tell I think it's got a great story to tell and I and I and I hope that my family might keep hold of it and keep telling the story that was one of our trickiest investigations so far there were so many moments where I thought we were just about to prove it was a Gainsborough only to be knocked back I feel very sorry for Mark but I do feel we were right in checking this painting out I mean art history is always moving on and it was possible that we could prove this picture just so happened we couldn't and does this mean that you were right then about that landscape you helped attribute 20 years ago well in my view the attribution to Gainsborough still stands [Music] thank you [Applause]

Channel: Perspective

Views: 114,406

Keywords: 18th century landscape, antique painting, art analysis, art authenticity, art connoisseur, art experts, art investigation, art market, art mystery, art research, art valuation, artistic legacy, artistic treasure hunt, famous painter, fine art, historical figure painting, iconic painting, precious artwork, traditional painting, valuable masterpiece

Id: 9-ZqAOkv0Ns

Length: 58min 56sec (3536 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 15 2023