In the tenth series of Fake or Fortune, Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce team up to investigate more thrilling cases of art world mystery and intrigue.
In Episode One, could a wall painting in a Surrey cottage be by celebrated British artist, Ben Nicholson?
When Ian and Julie moved into their Surrey Cottage, nearly twenty years ago, they discovered a curious wall painting in one of the bedrooms...
Julie wanted rid of it and their four-year-old wanted to colour it in with her crayons. Ian was about to emulsion over it when an elderly neighbour popped round and introduced himself. He'd heard from one of the previous owners of the cottage that the work was by famous abstract artist, Ben Nicholson. Since then, Ian and Julie have shown the work to art world experts, but they have doubts. Is this work by the master of British Modernism or is it an artful copy by a follower? If the team can prove the wall painting is genuine it could be worth £200,000. Even if it is authentic, could it be safely removed from the cottage?
The investigation leads Fiona and Philip through a ground-breaking period of British art history, gathering evidence in a bid to discern whether Ian and Julie's wall painting is a genuine work by Ben Nicholson.
Fake or Fortune?
Series Ten | Episode One
BBC 1 | Tuesday 23rd August | 8:00pm
