An Antiques Roadshow expert was forced to apologise during the latest installment of the BBC show after leaving a guest bitterly disappointed over the value of his item.
Historian Rupert Maas was asked to value and inspect a painting believed to have been created by Sir Peter Lely – a renowned Dutch artirst who later moved to England and was appointed Charles II’s Principal Painter in Ordinary. As such his works that have been preserved to the modern day carry huge value.
The proud owner introduced his item by explaining its background: “We know it was bought in auction in London in the 1850s by the brother of my great, great grandfather who was Sir Charles Forbes. Various artefacts have been passed down and we’ve been fortunate enough to end up with this fella hanging on our wall!”
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Intrigued, Rupert responded: “It looks to me like it’s got something to do with Sir Peter Lely – the famous 17th century portrait painter. “The question is, is it by Lely?”
(Image: BBC)
Rupert continued: “The catalogue of 1845 you’ve just shown me says Lely doesn’t it? Quite clearly.” However, he was quick to point out that artwork descriptions of the time were more ambiguous – with less care taken to ensure all details were correct.
“The thing about Lely, the great portrait painter that he was, is that when he died he left hundreds of unfinished portraits and versions of portraits already done,” expert Rupert added.
“His students and studio assistants finished them really quickly, and sold them all so that his entire estate including his collection of old masters made something like £30,000 in the 17th century – a massive amount of money, he was so popular. It effectively flooded the market with versions of his pictures done by lesser hands, the question is, is it one of those?”
(Image: BBC)
Rupert then advised the guest to “not to look too closely” as he admitted he was leading towards a “bit of a blow”. Sympathising, Rupert explained: “Sorry, but I think, I’m afraid this is a shadow of a dream. In other words, it’s not even by a studio citizen, I think it’s a much later copy. There’s something about the reduced scale – of course it should be massive – makes it look more domestic.
“Something about the frankly Victorian idea of a 17th century frame, it’s been copied,” he pointed out, before adding further information that led to his conclusion the item was fake.
“The colours are slightly gaudier than you’d expect, a little bit of clunkiness in the drawing of the hand. And then put on top of that brown finish which is quite deliberately antiquing it, I think what we’re looking at is a 19th century copy. I’m sorry, but it might even have been new when it was in this catalogue.”
(Image: BBC)
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Completing his damning verdict, he added: “So if it was an original Lely, it would be pretty well around £1 million. But as it is, it’s probably worth around I don’t know, £600 – but decorative and nice enough! I’m sorry to let you down.”
The disappointed owner managed to maintain his dignity, however, responding: “That’s alright. Thank you very much.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
