Art Detectives Unveil The Hidden Stories In Four Paintings | Fake Or Fortune Series 4 

If there had been a photograph of Monet & Renoir painting at that scene with this painting on Renoir's easel partially finished I have no doubt that the photograph would not have been enough for Wildensteins simply because their competitor authenticated the painting. My opinion is their verdict does more harm to their reputation than the painting.

They should be taken to court. If the evidence is there it is there. Their prejudice is the problem,

This makes me want to go back and take art restoration classes & more art history. Maybe I'll do that in the fall of my life now. I just love the history of it all.

I agree with others, this is disgusting...it certainly is proving just how petty snobs can be.😠 To me, the 2 most important takeaways of the Renoir are: 1. That *both* the painting *and* the dossier *must* be kept on display *together* for everyone to see, continuing the validation you found. 2. That *ALL* of the documentation, the compete dossier, be scanned, photographed and stored *together with* a scan and photograph of the painting, then placed someplace safe, waiting for the day when the *next* set of "experts" decides it is, indeed, a true Renoir. Sigh. 😥

Some unknown artists are better painted than well-known artists. 😢. They should have unknown artists museum too.

There are so many things I wish I had become during my life--because I tried and loved many things--, but one of those things would have been restorer of paintings. Color makes me swoon. Even the names of the colors are magical.

New Series of Fake or Fortune starting around August/September 2023 on BBC.

The possible Winston Churchill painting is absolutely beautiful wether it’s his or not. I’d love a copy of it

I enjoy ancestry family searches, but the search for historical art is so much more in depth, along with tours of old beautiful places and ancient architecture. I love this show.

WONDERFUL! I have watched the most recent PRESENTATIONS 6-8 times apiece. I have also gone back to episodes from YEARS AGO. So it will be wonderful to have NEW episodes to devour.

I love this show! I am amazed the ways you go to figure out the validity of these paintings!

No institute should have that much power.

The Wildensteins should take note of the manner in which the Lowry experts used logic and facts to arrive at conclusions.

Dr. Barndoor shows his brilliant results in his investigation of the photos.

I adore that photo where he’s wearing such a professional suit but covered in white paint. 😂 It’s such an iconic artist look.

Hateful aspect of the art world, the clashing egos. The utter lack of humility by the Wildenstein experts is infuriating. Disgusting. Something has to be changed. How can such an important decision come down to an egotistic battle between two houses? It seems petty from the outside, but in this case it's so damaging, and there is no doubt that the Wildenstein decision is based on the need to right at all costs. In this case, at great cost.

I've always felt the word "pretentious" was the most applicable to the "art" world.

This was SO FASCINATING....THANK YOU! ❤❤❤B

Perfect ! Love the colour combination of the yellow ochre and black and white.

I absolutely LOVE looking at the comments from the Art History majors tussling amongst one another on these shows 😂

Reruns or not…excellent show!🧐

I hope that woman said screw you to the arrogant art egos and sued the ‘experts’ who obviously have damaged her financially

was really hoping this was a new episode

Such a wonderful show.

Sue the Wildenstein mental institute.

When the lady said they sold off masterpieces to pay for renovations Fiona took a deep breath priceless.

I took a risk buying original (assumed) painting at a garage sale about 18 years ago. I researched it then sold it on eBay. The price I paid was $20 US and I sold it for $110. At the time, the internet wasn't as helpful as today. I wish I had held onto the painting.

This was so interesting!

I love that this show plays soundtrack scores as background music! Whay a fascinating show this is

I hope Susan was able to provide a marker for her grandmothers family.

It's amazing some of the junk they call works of art, stuff that looks like it was painted by some kid in elementary school. And to think someone would pay thousands of dollars for it, even millions sometimes.

Love this program 🇺🇸

Really enjoy this! Fascinating…

My experience as a painter is that most of the people that make the decisions in the art world or high dollars are involved are snobs who can't even paint they love dictating who and what is valuable if the Institute that is rejected it was offered 60% of the value at auction they would immediately declare that it is the most wonderful find in the history of the art world of a painting by Renoir. My apologies voice texting I assume someone from China programmed The Voice texting on my phone

"gullible" is the only word necessary. if you can't see these people are the real art thieves. Still i love there performances ❤

Absolutely fascinating I love this not only do I think it’s fascinating. You are introducing me to artist I’m not familiar with. I know the impression is I know the Americans cause I’m an American but I’m learning about artist all over Europe. Thank you thank you. I love this show.

The project and program were excellent. But the back ground music was aggravating -- I was forced to watch other channels on this topic. PLEASE REMOVE THAT MUSIC. Thank you for your programming. 😮

Loved this!

That Lowry episode is fascinating. Remind me to do more complex paintings with rare and unusual paints when and if I ever become a “found artist” in the primitivist style. That way the forgers will have a harder time with my output. 😉

I really love the BBC. Why is their such a devision between the different art houses?

I recognize this painting...it was the subject of a TV documentary either about painting or about a travel show featuring the area where this painting was painted. I remember seeing a photograph in the TV show showing Churchill sitting in a portal (door way?) painting this image. If I remember correctly, the TV show aired during the noon hour 2010-2012 in Edmonton, Alberta from Seattle, KSPS, that featured painting/ painters. The TV show aired in the 1980s or 90's.

Sarah York seems to have benefited more from her divorce than from her marriage: 2 lovely daughters, residence in her own wing at Royal Lodge, (a 30 room mansion) in Windsor Park, QEII’s beloved corgi’s, influential and wealthy contacts, etcetera. Why would THE Spare’s wife think her divorce would provide any less if she stayed in the UK post, divorce? IMO, she never intended to stay in the UK, divorce or not.

i love the series, no idea how many there are, and it is tricky to identify the episodes without onening the link. would be great to have a number and series!

@46:21, if you can make your eyes see 3-D, the overlay is perfect, down to the more visible brushmarks. There's not even a need for high-tech scanners to see that it couldn't possibly have been replicated so exactly. ETA, ... and Fiona's colleague then said pretty much the same thing.

Brilliant series 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

I LOVE THIS

The authentication of art is not unlike the certification of computer software. In the past 30 years, if the software you write is not CERTIFIED by Microsoft, it is virtually impossible to sell it. To get a certification from Microsoft, you literally have to submit your source code to Microsoft for them to analyze. Why would anybody give Microsoft their technology?

It is surprising that Richard Toulmin North is not buried at the family Church

I know of a marvellous Gainsborough painting which is hidden in a staff room on the campus of University of Toronto. It is only known to a handful of people and has sit isolated and unknown for decades.

I remember the Churchill painting episode, but can't recall how it turned out. Fake or Fortune? I seem to remember Fake, in spite of all the proof that it was real.

This is a brilliant show. However, there are way too many advert breaks within this programme 😡😡😡

I’ve wondered how art works, given as a gift, fit in the stream of provenance. I can see the possibility of Lady with Two Dogs selling as a set with People in the Street, bought by one person, then gifting Lady to Steve’s father. Or, gifting it to his mother. Or to the family. I can imagine it as a family group. One lady and two dogs, the father and son. That’s the kind of connection I would make when gifting a piece of art to a friend or family member.

That bendor guy - he will bend over backwards to reveal the cracks in a painting.

Bendor's academic background is actually in British history with a particular emphasis on politics: his PhD thesis concerned British foreign policy and he wrote a book on what he believes were history's worst MPs.

I bought a beautiful old painting of a Chinese junk boat but can’t find the artist information. Peter Lee, Teter Lee, I can’t tell the spelling? Anyone heard of either artist

So much for provenance regarding the Churchill. Living people connected to his being there at the time they've got both film and periodical confirmation? Experts? Give me a break. I liked the Churchill painting before they "cleaned" it.

Happy i found this show, but the music and certain terms used really jazz up the show like its NCIS lab work for a unsolved murder. Like homeslice you xrayed a painting to see colors. You didnt infiltrated seal team 6 😂😂 they didn't even talk about japanese washi kozo ❤

Just a quick glance I knew this is a Renoir. 😊

Personally, I'm thoroughly enjoying the daily vlogs. It has to be exhausting for you but I'm all for them.

Bendor is the Alfred to Philip’s Batman.

How well do 2 pictures line up in overlaid with each other? If they line up can only be small question if real?

I don't know that Lowry was lying about the colours he used when he was interviewed. Him trying out whites and settling on one and then being interviewed years later and saying you use five colours is not a lie. That is what he used. Even as the forger pointed out the zinc white is watery and thinner, likely why Lowry did not finally settle on it. Why he decided not to finally "use" it!

I remain disgusted by these Paris houses that claim sole authority over the work of specific artists, and refuse to consider they may have made an error in the past. There is more than pride involved here…given the number of forgeries out there that HAVE been authenticated by these same houses, there is a willingness to to prevaricate in the opposite direction as well to protect their reputation. They will keep a known forgery in the approved class lest their “reputation” be called into question, and they no longer remain the FINAL word on a given artist.🖤🇨🇦

I am no sleuth but, the type on the label and the a wax pencil (assumed) number on the back, can those be authenticated for the place the painting was bought from? What about testing the one bought at auction for that buyers provenance?

I also love how the different nations treat provenance differently, directly reflecting their traditions. With British paintings and the British art market it’s done through a decentralized, informal jury system, where art experts gather together and render verdicts. With the French, one has to go through an all-powerful, secretive institute like the Widenstein Institute. It’s highly centralized and there’s no room for dissent. How very French. 😆

I wonder if that’s the original Vermeer “Girl with Pearl Earring” on the workbench in the foreground at 2:40:20??

wasnt this already posted

1:19:44 did I just hear a bizarro version of "Hello Zepp"? Haha

wow

No for any reasons BBC is not sending to RU-vid the new episodes.

Does Sean the forger have a photographic memory?

These days DNA technology is so precise that even a fingerprint leaves behind DNA and can be tested, I am curious if that isn't a way to ID a picture. Amazingly, right now, with the political unrest and the world so terribly over populated, investors are pushing art as a solid investment. I would think gold would be the push.

0.36 what is the title of the backsound song this minute plss

But what authenticity translates in lieu of money 😮

Clearly there's a skunk in the garden and will not accept that they are wrong😢 It's just sad

LAWERY was a damn good salesman....

Insane to keep it in the church, especially after this show revealing it as worth in excess of 100,000 L . better to get that forger from the first episode to copy it. The paintings stolen from the Gardiner Museum have never been recovered. They stole 3 paintings in minutes. Imagine how easy it would be to steal it from a church? Nuts beyond belief.

I'm a lost Lowry.....

Can i submit my own drawings?

The important international art auctions won't accept the painting for sale, but could a private sale be arranged? With all the documents pertaining to the investigation and the way scientific study has been advancing rapidly, surely the authenification of such a painting will eventually be realized. Maybe one year the opinions of the Wildensteins won't matter when put up against a new technology that could physically analyze the paintings for clues beyond a shadow of a doubt.

These are old episodes Sad

I totally disagree with results to, ( I believe) the Churchill painting. So obvious he was there and painted it with borrowed paints! So obvious from the newspaper account and News Reel, that he was there at that time, Oct. 1, 1949! Come on! So unfair!😢 Come on 3:48:03

As far as I'm concerned Wildenstein has lost all credibility as an authority on Renoir and also much credibility as an authority of art in general. Considering all the trouble the family has had and the Institute being caught dealing in stolen paintings, I'm surprised that they were still considered the authority at the time. Shameful their behavior with this decision, it wasn't about facts, it was about feelings and ego, childish antics. I do hope the rest of the art community will see that this bunch is all about the money and not so much about actual science, truth and appreciation of art. I was almost convinced at the start of the episode that the painting was Renoir, everything else dug up in the episode goes beyond any doubt, it looked right even if crude, and most simply due to the rare and almost magical translucence that Renoir was able to achieve with oil. I wish I had $100K to offer on this painting, I have no doubts that it is genuine and I also have no doubt that if the now Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc. now in Ney York doesn't run their operation much more professionally than what the French iteration did they won't be considered the authority on anything for much longer and the painting will sell for what it actually is worth. I also have a feeling, without researching it, that there is likely something shady about this transfer of the institute to Ney York, it strikes me as much akin to the family's long history of shuffling assets around to avoid consequences, it really does seem like just more Wildenstein family shenanigans.

How do I block this site? I don't wamt to see anymore

Look at the clothes in the painting compare the styles.

I've never been able to understand why obviously talented artists spent their talent, time, and energy copying other artists to create fakes that are so perfect that can't be identified as a fake. This man, who was imprisoned for 4 years ,could fake antiquities, modern art, sculpture, Lowry, among who knows what other artists he faked. Why wouldn't they just create their own art? Never, ever have I understood that. Was it about risk? Or about being able to pull one over on so called "experts", because those experts are so many times the fly in the eye for many owners of real art that that they denounce as fakes, which to anyone who watches this show, is maddening. It's such a narrow, closed group that makes those decisions, and are often afraid of of marring their reputation.

You could say Lowry told a "little white lie."

12:56

😊

INHERITANCE _ FRANCE Father no mother - Under inheritance law in France, the amount set aside as the reserve is as follows: If there is one child, they receive 50% of the estate. With two children, they receive 66.6% of the estate between them. With three or more children, they receive 75% of the estate between them. The rest is covered by a will unless there isnt a will in which case all goes equal share to the children. Oddly works quite well as few arguments and the son if he has siblings will not inherit everything unlike the UK where sometimes the first son receives all the estate.

What would it cost to have the paint analysis, provenance history research, and expert evaluation performed? The "Renoir" was found to be of no value. Imagine you had paid $50,000-$100,000 to have all that work done; and then to find it of no value when your organization is in desperate need of funds.

5 years later the Churchill was determined to be authentic. Unfortunately not in time to save the farm.

oh poor man

🌈💝

Ive seen a documentary on the ”art houses” and how they have such a political adversarial relationship that the people with REAL pieces of work get screwed all the time. If there is a piece that has as much documentation as the Renoir and Monet and it was turned down and denied out of spite…I would look into defamation, some people would be in front of the barrister. I would go to the press, tell them the story..perhaps people would stop giving these houses business.

Dont under stand how people land up paying inheritance tax .... When a simple trust would avoid that.

Rerun

I do get frustrated whenever we are talking about the authenticity of a work that we immediately go to their monetary value. Idk I think as art historians we can do better than that?

There is Oriental.clothes in that painting.

I feel they’re nit picking the fact that the artist used different whites and claiming they’re somehow different paints when white is white, especially when it’s an untrained artist.