Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to the grand Georgian mansion of Tatton Park in Cheshire, where Bendor has spotted a mysterious portrait of a 16th-century physician in its collection. Initially he wonders if the work might be by mannerist painter Parmigianino, but once the restoration is underway, and after examining other works by the Renaissance master, he is forced to abandon this idea and start again.\n\nEmma explores the story of the man who bought the portrait, Wilbraham, the first Earl Egerton of Tatton, whose social climbing saw him turn the mansion into a marvel of luxury and won him an aristocratic title. Meanwhile Bendor, who is still confused by who the artist might be, is inspired by a chance remark from restorer Simon Gillespie. This new lead prompts a trip to Rome and Florence, which finally confirms an attribution for the painting and ultimately reveals the subject to be a well-known Renaissance anatomist. This prompts Emma to investigate the symbiotic relationship between art and anatomy.
Source: BBC 4
Series 4: 3. Cardiff
Art detectives Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to the National Museum Cardiff to investigate a badly overpainted Madonna, currently attributed to a follower of Botticell ...
06-05-2024
BBC 4
Series 4: 2. Birmingham
Could two anonymous landscape paintings, discovered at Birmingham Art Gallery, be by artists whose work profoundly influenced the development of European landscape painting in t ...
16-04-2024
BBC 4
Series 4: 1. Oxford
In the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Dr Bendor Grosvenor identifies a portrait of a fellow of Merton College from the 1750s, George Oakley Aldrich. It is not known who painted the ...
09-04-2024
BBC 4
Series 2: 4. Arbroath
Hospitalfield House in the fishing town of Arbroath on Scotland's east coast is a Victorian treasure trove. The couple who owned this great house back in the 19th century were o ...
12-02-2024
BBC 4
Series 5: 3. Glasgow
Britain’s premier art detectives, Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri, are on the hunt to find and restore one of the nation’s great lost masterpieces. Can a mysterious ...
23-01-2024
BBC 4
Series 5: 2. Tatton Park
Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to the grand Georgian mansion of Tatton Park in Cheshire, where Bendor has spotted a mysterious portrait of a 16th-century physician in i ...
16-01-2024
BBC 4
Series 5: 3. Glasgow
Britain’s premier art detectives, Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri, are on the hunt to find and restore one of the nation’s great lost masterpieces. Can a mysterious ...
23-01-2024
BBC 4
Series 5: 2. Tatton Park
Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to the grand Georgian mansion of Tatton Park in Cheshire, where Bendor has spotted a mysterious portrait of a 16th-century physician in i ...
16-01-2024
BBC 4
Series 3: 1. Devon
In Knightshayes Court Devon the team are examining a work that is a copy of a Rembrandt. But, might it be the real thing, a genuine self-portrait?\n\n\n\nBendor discovers a smal ...
04-01-2023
BBC 4
Series 3: 2. Manchester
At the Manchester Art Gallery, Dr Bendor Grosvenor discovers a painting of a country gentleman from the 1770s which he believes has been misattributed to Nathaniel Dance. He fee ...
11-01-2023
BBC 4
Series 4: 2. Birmingham
Could two anonymous landscape paintings, discovered at Birmingham Art Gallery, be by artists whose work profoundly influenced the development of European landscape painting in t ...
16-04-2024
BBC 4
Series 4: 3. Cardiff
Art detectives Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri travel to the National Museum Cardiff to investigate a badly overpainted Madonna, currently attributed to a follower of Botticell ...
06-05-2024
BBC 4
Series 5: 1. Brighton
Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri visit Brighton Museum to investigate who painted two neglected pictures of religious subjects.\n\nBendor believes a grubby image of Mary Magdale ...
09-01-2024
BBC 4
Series 3: 3. Petworth
Petworth House in West Sussex is one of the great Baroque treasure houses of England, and Dr Bendor Grosvenor finds two paintings which he feels warrant investigation: a portrai ...
18-01-2023
BBC 4