Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to France on the trail of two of the greatest Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists, Camille Pissarro and his friend and protege, Paul Cezanne.\n\nFiona travels to the stunning Provencal landscape on the trail of a simple watercolour, owned by Dominique Rogers. She is the great- great-niece of Anthony Valabregue, a poet, art critic and great personal friend of Cezanne who painted him several times. Dominique – who doesn’t admire Cezanne’s artistic style – believes the painting was a direct gift from Cezanne, passed on by Valabregue’s widow to her father in the 1920s.\n\nFiona visits Cezanne’s studio in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence and strolls in the nearby quarries in the shadow of Mont Sainte-Victoire, where the rich ochre-coloured boulders and spindly trees so influenced the artist’s work. Could this be where Dominique’s tree was painted?\n\nInvestigation into the paper and palette will prove crucial to establish the provenance, particularly after Fiona learns that Cezanne wasn’t copied in his lifetime. But what if an admirer or, even worse, a faker, meticulously copied it after his death? \n\nMeanwhile Philip travels to northern France, to the town of Pontoise where Pissarro set up home with his large family and was often joined by other artists, including Cezanne. Pissarro had grown to love painting rural landscapes and the hard-working country folk tilling the soil.\n\nZana Glaser inherited a drawing of cabbage sellers from her father Tom, a keen art buyer and collector. It was accepted that the outline of the drawing and signature were by Pissarro, but when Tom tried to sell the drawing at auction in 2012, it was rejected by the Pissarro committee who felt it had been coloured by another hand.\n\nZana turns to the Fake or Fortune team for help. Can science prove that the outline and colouring were done at the same time? Or was the colouring done by someone wanting to enhance the appeal and value of the drawing – perhaps even by a member of Pissarro’s own family, many of whom became artists?\n \nIf the Pissarro is right, it may be worth as much as £50,000, if not – despite the outline being done by the great artist – its value is probably no more than £1,000. And if the Cezanne is proved to be by the artist, it could be worth a massive £100,000, as the artist’s work has never been more popular. If not, it’s worth virtually nothing. Can the team gather enough evidence to persuade the relevant authorities?
Source: BBC 1
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Series 12: 1. Mondrian
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BBC 1
Series 11: 4. Arshile Gorky
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BBC 1
Series 11: 3. Cezanne And Pissarro
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to France on the trail of two of the greatest Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists, Camille Pissarro and his friend and protege, Paul C ...
21-08-2024
BBC 1
Series 11: 2. Joshua Reynolds
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to north London to meet Glyn Hopkin, a car dealer with a soft spot for art. He’s taken a gamble on a painting he hopes is by a towering f ...
26-07-2024
BBC 1
Series 8: 1. The Lost Gainsborough
The team investigate an 18th-century landscape: could it be a lost work by the great British master of landscape painting, Thomas Gainsborough? \n\nThe painting has been in the ...
24-06-2024
BBC 1
Series 11: 1. Elisabeth Frink
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to the beautiful Essex countryside on the trail of one of the 20th century’s greatest artists, Dame Elisabeth Frink. They are investigati ...
19-06-2024
BBC 1
Series 11: 4. Arshile Gorky
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a murky canvas that could be by Arshile Gorky, a pioneer of abstract expressionism. Works by this Armenian-American artist fetch million ...
28-08-2024
BBC 1
Series 11: 3. Cezanne And Pissarro
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to France on the trail of two of the greatest Impressionist and post-Impressionist artists, Camille Pissarro and his friend and protege, Paul C ...
21-08-2024
BBC 1
Series 10: 4. Flemish Old Master
Fiona and Philip visit a church in Port Glasgow to investigate whether a mysterious work depicting Christ after the crucifixion could be a lost masterpiece by one of the great p ...
24-10-2024
BBC 1
Series 10: 2. Modigliani
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a delicate sketch depicting a mother and child, purported to be by one of the modern art world’s most famous names, Amedeo Modigli ...
08-02-2024
BBC 1
Series 3: 2. Constable
The Fake or Fortune team takes on a doubly challenging investigation as they try to prove that not one but two paintings are missing works by one of Britain's best-loved artists ...
15-11-2021
BBC 1
Series 11: 1. Elisabeth Frink
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to the beautiful Essex countryside on the trail of one of the 20th century’s greatest artists, Dame Elisabeth Frink. They are investigati ...
19-06-2024
BBC 1
Series 11: 2. Joshua Reynolds
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to north London to meet Glyn Hopkin, a car dealer with a soft spot for art. He’s taken a gamble on a painting he hopes is by a towering f ...
26-07-2024
BBC 1
Series 12: 2. Helen Mcnicoll
Could a beautiful painting of women working in a field be a valuable lost work by Helen McNicoll, a celebrated impressionist artist from Canada? The quest to prove it takes the ...
03-10-2024
BBC 1
Series 8: 2. Cosway Or Lawrence?
In this episode, we’re investigating an 18th-century family portrait of a young man at the prime of his life. Could a chance sighting by Philip have revealed an undiscover ...
17-05-2021
BBC 1
Series 12: 3. Music Memorabilia
The team take on an entertaining new challenge when they plunge into the fast-growing market for rock music memorabilia. Can they prove that a curious silver guitar once belonge ...
10-10-2024
BBC 1