An Antiques Roadshow guest was left utterly stunned after finding out a painting owned by his family for 65 years is worth tens of thousands of pounds.
The unnamed guest appeared on the BBC show believing his family had been in possession of a painting by a famous British artist.
According to the bloke, his grandfather, Wallace, had originally bought the painting from Hockney himself in 1957 while working as a signalman near Felixstowe in Suffolk.
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A year later Hockney won the gold medal from the Royal College of Art and his career began to take off.
(Image: BBC)
BBC art expert Rupert Maas confirmed the painting was by the British artist David Hockney during a recent episode filmed at Belmont House, near Faversham in Kent, which aired on March 12.
The guest said he believed the painting was worth around £10,000 – but was left speechless when the expert revealed its true value.
The expert said: “I think you might be right, but it’s closer to £20,000 to £30,000.”
In utter shock, the guest repeated the valuation, with his voice trailing off before he ducked behind the painting.
A spectator hollered: “‘Just say thank you,” as everyone laughed around him.
(Image: BBC)
The pensioner then managed to compose himself and said: “Thank you for that information. Thank you very much.”
Hockney, now 85, is considered to be one of the most influential British artists of the 20th Century.
Rupert said the pastel green landscape, depicting trees and hedges with a wobbly signature in the corner, did not look like a Hockney at first.
But some research found that Hockney had been in the area portrayed in the image when it was painted.
The expert then concluded that its unusual qualities actually made it less likely to be a fake.
(Image: BBC)
Maas also noted that the artist, who is known for his vibrant style, used a simple green paint because he didn’t have much money at that time – prompting the expert to dub the artwork a “sparkling revelation” into Hockney’s early life.
Although the bloke got a whopping price for the painting, some of Hockney’s work can be worth millions of pounds.
His most famous works include A Bigger Splash (1967) and Portrait Of An Artist (Pool With Two Figures) (1972), which sold for $90million (more than £70million) in 2018, the third highest ever paid for an artwork by a living artist.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
