Beyond the genteel galleries and upmarket auction houses of the art world lies a darker dimension: a world of incalculable wealth, social ambition, and occasional subterfuge. In the fourth season of the series FAKE OR FORTUNE?, detective Philip Mould, journalist Fiona Bruce, and a team of scientists investigate a new batch of potential fine art forgeries.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Episode 1: “LS Lowry” airs Monday, May 2 at 10 p.m. - Art detectives Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould return for a brand new series, starting with an investigation into three small pictures by one of Britain's best-loved modern artists: LS Lowry.
Stephen Ames, a Cheshire property developer, has inherited three small oil paintings believed to be by Laurence Stephen Lowry, an artist renowned for his scenes of northern life. However, he doesn't have any proof. All he knows is that the paintings were purchased by his father Gerald, a self-made businessman with a passion for art, in the early '70s.
LS Lowry is probably the most faked British artist, his deceptively simple style of painting making him a soft target for forgers. As a result, the art market has become very wary of newly discovered Lowry works. If Ames can't find evidence in favor of the pictures, they are worthless.
As they hunt for proof, with the assistance of specialist art researcher Dr. Bendor Grosvenor, the team encounters unexpected obstacles and extraordinary coincidences, culminating in a ground-breaking scientific discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about Lowry the artist. But is it enough to prove that the pictures are genuine?
Episode 2: “Renoir” airs Monday, May 16 at 10 p.m. - Art detective Philip Mould and journalist Fiona Bruce try to prove a painting hanging in a Welsh Castle is by celebrated French Impressionist, Pierre Auguste Renoir. Nicky Philipps, a portrait artist renowned for her pictures of the Royal family, has asked the FAKE OR FORTUNE? team to investigate a mysterious painting which hangs on the walls of Picton Castle — once the family's ancestral seat.
The work was bought in the 1930s by Nicky's Great Grandfather Sir Laurence Philipps, who believed it to be by Pierre Auguste Renoir. But for 50 years the painting has been dogged by doubt and two powerful art world authorities can't agree whether it's genuine or fake. Nicky believes in the painting because her late Aunt Gwen told her a tantalizing story that it came from Claude Monet's studio in Giverny. She said it was a gift from Renoir to Monet after they had been working together.
But family legend isn't enough to convince the art world's toughest judges — the team must find hard evidence. The trail takes Philip to the River Seine at Argenteuil, where Renoir and Monet painted side-by-side. Simultaneously, Fiona picks up the provenance trail at Monet's House in Giverny, where she tries to find proof the painting was once hanging among Monet's art collection.
Meanwhile, art forensics expert, Aviva Burnstock, invites Philip to Berlin to see if cutting-edge technology can determine whether the pigments in Nicky's painting match up to those listed by Renoir himself.
She uses a special camera to see through the canvas, revealing a remarkable piece of evidence that's been hidden from view. Along the way Fiona discovers that the picture is caught between two rival art world authorities—The Bernheim Jeune Gallery and the Wildenstein Institute—who both believe their word is the last word when it comes to Renoir. When the dust settles, will Nicky's painting be fully accepted as a genuine work?
Episode 3: “Churchill and Munnings” airs Monday, May 23 at 10 p.m. - Charles Henty is the owner of two paintings which may be by two of the leading figures of the 20th century. One was found in the coal hole of his family house in London and is possibly by Sir Winston Churchill. Painting was Churchill's private passion. He received no formal training and painted purely for pleasure; but, even so, his works are now highly sought after by collectors, with one canvass recently selling for £1.8 million.
The other painting, a landscape of Dedham in Essex, is possibly by Sir Alfred Munnings. Charles Henty inherited this piece from his late uncle. While he may be an unfamiliar name to many outside the art world, during his lifetime, Munnings was the most successful highly valued British artist of all time. But Dedham was also home to another painter: the infamous forger Tom Keating. Could Keating have been responsible for Charles Henty's painting?
Charles has another problem, because in addition to the landscape painting, he also inherited his uncle's working farm in Normandy – together with a huge inheritance tax bill from the French government. Charles desperately wants to keep the farm together and protect the jobs of the people who work there. The two paintings could be the answer… but can the FAKE OR FORTUNE? team prove they are genuine?
Episode 4: “A Mystery Old Master” airs Monday, May 30 at 10 p.m. - In this episode we are faced with a double mystery, an intriguing whodunit? A beautiful church in the heart of the Lancastrian countryside has been home to the work of a 16th century Italian Old Master for more than 200 years.
This is the oldest and largest painting ever to be featured on FAKE OR FORTUNE? The congregation has contacted them to help solve a riddle which has been puzzling everyone. Who painted this huge picture and just how did it find its way into a church once patronized by the famous Brontë sisters?
To crack this case experts deploy some of the very latest scientific tests. They also launch a hugely ambitious restoration project which will peel back centuries of dirt and grime.
These revelations lead Philip and Fiona on a surprising and colorful journey to Venice and the work of masters such as Titian and Tintoretto before their investigations lead to a significant breakthrough. Back in the U.K., Bendor unearths some jaw-dropping family secrets which shed new light on exactly how this painting found its way into a small church in the north of England. Discovering the identity of the artist who painted this epic might raise its value beyond £100,000 – but can the team unmask a painter whose name has been lost for more than four hundred years?
Produced by All3Media International, distributed by American Public Television.
