Fake or Fortune? Catch up, Series 13: 2. A Tale of Two Renoirs on BBC 1

Fake or Fortune?

Series 13: 2. A Tale of Two Renoirs

Typical Renoir – you wait ages for an undiscovered masterpiece, and then two come along at once. The question is, are they genuine? One of them, both of them, or neither?\n\nIn this double investigation, the team look into an early portrait and a charming little landscape, both believed to be by one of the biggest names in art, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Could two new Renoir works have surfaced in the UK?\n\nPhilip takes the lead on the investigation into a portrait of a young girl that belongs to Jacky, in Bristol. Jacky inherited it from her uncle, a French art dealer who had a gallery in London in the 1930s. He acquired the painting in 1937, but was left frustrated in his efforts to determine its authenticity during his lifetime.\n\nIn the other investigation, Fiona meets Rebecca, Suki and Ben, the children of entrepreneur and promoter Evan Steadman. The siblings are the custodians of a little landscape depicting a scene in the south of France that Steadman purchased as a genuine Renoir in the 1980s and gave to his wife as a 50th birthday present. Steadman died in 2008, and when his children recently tried to sell the painting to pay for their mother’s care, they hit a problem – the painting was not accepted as a genuine work by the leading authorities.\n\nPhilip goes in search of evidence in favour of the portrait, and at the Limoges Museum of Fine Arts he sees strong stylistic similarities in another genuine portrait that Renoir painted early in his career. Meanwhile, conservator Rebecca Gregg discovers a label hidden underneath the frame of the painting that might provide a vital clue as to when and where it was painted.\n\nAt the Courtauld Institute in London, professor Aviva Burnstock begins a detailed forensic analysis of the little landscape. There are encouraging signs when it's compared to other known works that were often cut from a large fragment of canvas, but firm provenance is in short supply.\n\nAs scientific analysis begins to reveal some surprising results, the investigation takes an unexpected turn. Can the team make a case that will convince the experts, or is there a chance that a sophisticated forger has been at work?

Source: BBC 1

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