Fake or Fortune? - Series 13

A carer named Barry asks the team to investigate a garden scene he bought for £140 at an antiques fair. An inscription on the reverse claims that Winston Churchill painted it at Herstmonceux Castle in June 1916, possibly depicting his wife Clementine. Fiona and Philip must identify the precise location, reconstruct the picture’s history and decide whether the stylistic evidence can support an attribution potentially worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Two separate owners believe their paintings may be unknown works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir: a landscape and a portrait of a young girl. Scientific examination produces a damaging discovery in one case, while the other presents more promising stylistic evidence but lacks the provenance required for formal acceptance. The investigation demonstrates the enormous gap between plausibility and authentication.

Art blogger Robjn Cantus bought two unattributed paintings from a council collection for only £35. One abstracted landscape was formerly assigned to Vera Cunningham, but its distinctive handling leads him to suspect the New Zealand-born modernist Frances Hodgkins. Research in Britain and New Zealand, together with technical and stylistic analysis, seeks to reconnect the inexpensive picture with a missing work by a major artist.

An American couple bought a damaged painting of a grieving woman at a Pittsburgh estate sale for $200. Its composition and inscriptions suggest that it could be a lost work by Angelica Kauffman, one of the founding members of the Royal Academy. Technical examination and historical research produce encouraging evidence, but the picture’s fragile condition and extensive deterioration complicate its assessment.

Fiona and Philip return to the two portraits of Black British women investigated in Series 7. New research and growing interest in Black social history have changed the significance of both paintings, including David Martin’s portrait of Dido Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray and Emma Soyer’s Two Girls with a Book. The programme examines what happened to the works after their original attributions were established.

The team revisits The Bean Harvest, authenticated during Series 12 as a lost work by Canadian Impressionist Helen McNicoll. Newly discovered provenance fills an important gap in its ownership history, while owner David Taylor decides whether to accept a private offer or risk selling the painting at auction. The programme follows the eventual sale and reveals the identity and intentions of its new owner.