Huge Restoration Unearths Italian Masterpiece In British Church | Fake Or Fortune 

Pip Pip old Bean!

That would be a fascinating program for sure!

I recommend Julian Baumgartner's channel. He's a restorer who has a fascinating bunch of videos on everything to do with art restoration. A lot of his videos go into the nitty gritty of how repairs are best undertaken, and none of it is boring!

@@johnberkley6942 I was going to mention him~

Julian Baumgartner, who is on RU-vid, has come up with a way to almost completely remove any trace of seams. He is a fabulous art restorer here in the US.

Great Montenezzano!

I shed tears, too.

I expected it to be a sad copy of the work of "greater" men, but it's not. It's so moving. I could imagine myself contemplating this painting often when inside and outside this church. It was stolen from it's Italian audience and sold by Napoleon to a British congregation, and is now shown to the world via the internet. Mr.Mezzano succeeded beautifully!

I did not cry, but with the unveiling, I gasped!

Beautifully written, and thank you for your insight.

:) I, too, obsessively watch Baumgartner and at the beginning when they were taking a look with some white spirits, I kept thinking 'Julian would be appalled at doing such a large test area! And over a face! Julian would have been much more careful and as they don't own that picture, they should have been, too!'

If you’ve ever been to Venice, grey and ugly skies are not a common thing down there. Maybe a bit during the winter. But during the summer, the city just bursts with colors under the Mediterranean sun. I’ve been to Venice in August and those were some of the most gorgeous sunsets I’ve ever beheld in my life. 🤗

Vreemd deze naam maar ook weer niet Monte Mezzano ,Mon mijn? Mont Blanc= witte berg 🏔,Monte-Jus = toestel in fabrieken om sappen,Oliën,enz te laten stijgen ) je hebt ook nog Montessori- onderwijs naar het stelsel van Dr Maria Montessori,gebaseerd op vrije ontwikkeling naar aanleg ) Mezzano - Mezza of mezzo half; mezza voce: met gedempte stem; mezzo-sopraan: vrouwenstem tussen sopraan en ALT 😮; mezzo tinto: Halve of lichte schaduw .) Miasma, mv. Miasmen) ziekte-stof uit lucht 🌌,water of bodem.) Messias Mezzano hoeveel raakvlakken ( verbijstering alom) net als Max’Well, m. Eenheid van magnetische stroom 😅

Leonardo Da Vinci ( Le-on-ard-do-Da-vin-ci ( betekend min of meer ard-aard ( Da-daar-VIN-vind-ci-zij of hij of ( Leon-leeuw-aard-o Da-daar Vin-vind-ci-zij of hij ( Mona-Lisa ( Mon-mijn-a-lis-a ( Mo-na-li-sa ? ( Spelling

Mez-meet-zan-zoon -zan- kan ook zon op zijn dialect zeggen wij zunne--O ( meet kan ook ontmoeten betekenen ( Engels) dus meet zan O ( ontmoet zoon God=Omega ? O kan ook iets anders betekenen moet ik opzoeken

Lis kan ook een bloem aanduiden ( water lis of wat Van Gogh heeft geschilderd is volgens mij blauwe lissen ?

Florence- geeft het al beetje aan Bloemen

Same here, first time and very impressed with all the educational layers this journey travelled through.

@@louisegogel7973 and @Andy Roo: Me too. Excellent documentary.

you need to go watch all of them, happy viewing!

This is the most painless way to get an art history lesson. I have watched most of the series and learned more about connoisseurship than in college art history classes. You will also enjoy the episodes when they find the work is fake or disputed. Each show is fascinating.

Yes! Back in the day they used to skin paintings, ie take off the top layer. The painting being neglected is actually a good thing.

Yes, beautiful.

Even if they hadn't found anything at all, just the restoration itself would have made it all worthwhile. It's great that the entire congregation gets to share in it too, and see it as it was supposed to be seen.

How about actually researching where it was stolen from and being returned??? That would be the most magnificent ending to this episode.

@@DulceN What, give it back to the Catholic Church who owned it over two centuries ago? They kind of have enough art. Also, legal processes change over time as different people come into power and Napoleon took those paintings legally (he made it legal). You’d need to take into account all the different countries involved and what was legal at what time. You might want to ask yourself how meaningful it would be to start “returning” antiques to the genetic descendants of their previous owners (or inheritors of their organisation) two centuries later. That far back, the majority of antiques went through dubious legal situations, and all countries had been compulsively stealing and looting from each other since before the Romans - only in modern times was that legally prohibited. If you start forcefully changing an artwork’s ownership like that, are you “returning” it or just taking it from the current owners? Can anyone have a centuries-old antique taken from them if it happened to be stolen 300 years ago? Is that fair? Btw: They did try to research it; they just didn’t get far. They don’t even know the name of the painting so it’s a bit hard to research it, and the records only recorded prominent artworks that were taken by name.

@@DulceN If that's the fact, then so be it. It will be returned.

The church is going to have to install some serious security! The colors glow like the stained glass window it's next to.

@@veramae4098 - I saw that, too.

Arteology? I agree!

Not like .it is.

Perhaps he used Gondoliers as models. They would have seriously muscled forearms from operating a gondola.

@@annabellelee4535 a good theory

If the congregation wants this painting still there, they could put it in a bulletproof frame, and install security cameras around the church to monitor it.

@@kristoffermangila Doing that would certainly keep the insurance premiums down!

It’s been moved to a safe place until a way can be found to protect it in the church.

So fun to hear her converse in Italian in this episode. I wonder if she is fluent in other languages as well?

The climate control is the least of my worries. The church better take some insurance out, immediately. Now that it has been broadcast on national TV that a beautifully restored painting worth over 100,000 pounds sits in an isolated rural church with very minimal security, I can't imagine that some pilferer or other won't be tempted to take this to sell to an international buyer in the black market. The vicar and the old lady better be careful!

@@Luboman411 I googled about this episode and apparently they did remove it from the church for security reasons back in 2015 or so, until they could solve how to keep it safe there...with one of those glass cases that museums have etc. But I couldn't find articles on how they solved that...

Indeed!

Not only that, but how is this church going to keep the painting secured, how can they afford it? Artwork thefts are way too prevalent with sales going through the black market resulting in the painting disappearing for many years, if it ever found. I’d prefer to sell it through a major auction house with the stipulation of having a replicated painting commissioned for the church.

I mean... In Italy these paintings hang in many churches with no security and no climate control. Especially in Venice, you enter a little church and see a Titian, a Bassano, etc. I tend to also agree with a desire to preserve things, but many think of these as devotional objects meant to be kept in religious spaces. It's certainly the case with many many pieces by old masters in Italy.

Much of the damage was probably done before the use of electrical lights. Black soot disposition is terrible even in modern homes. Don't burn cheap candles.

No kidding on the value. "Modern" artists chuck a bucket of pant at s canvas and its worth hundreds of millions. It shows how far our values have shifted in a negative way.

​@Gary Allen I believe Rothko was an alcoholic who committed suicide. It's strange how people like that are loved by the rich that have created such an underclass of homeless in addicted. True class can be defined as the quality of bestowing dignity upon others. That's the only kind of classy person there will ever be.

So you knew who Montemezzano was, and Fiona and Phillip had never heard of him? Well done you!

And English... lol

@@steamdespair9189 well, well, well.. if it isn't the Captain themself. Thank you, would've never figured that out.

I love her on AR-UK. Good host, very attentive when speaking with the guests regarding their items.

Perhaps the vicar was making up the story about to paint his no-good half brother in a better light

And incense.

Yeah, the story that the painting was donated by Richard Toulmin North needn't be ruled out. He could have procured it and given it to his half brother, knowing Needham's love of that period in art and their joint association with the church. Could have had a number of reasons. The most likely explanation isn't always exclusive, and Needham's lacking purchase documentation raises a question. "Legend" often turns out to have elements of truth.

I must admit I did a 'Yeah, right' when she said he 'found' it. We Brits were exceptionally good at 'finding' things Or even 'rescuing' them, because those damn natives were neglecting them. Oddly, when Napoleon and Hitler were doing the same thing, they were 'looting' or even 'stealing' Notice Napoleon 'stole' those paintings, but if the church painting was one of them, no one mentioned the benefactor handling stolen goods! Gotta love us Brits, we can always justify our crimes and usually make sure that they were actually for the common good!

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