Fake or Fortune?
Fake or Fortune?

Fake or Fortune? (2011)

8.613 seasonsDocumentary, Reality

Journalist Fiona Bruce teams up with art expert Philip Mould to investigate the provenance or attribution of notable artworks.

📺 Seasons & Episodes

Series 14 episodes
Series 23 episodes
Series 34 episodes
Series 44 episodes
Series 54 episodes
Series 63 episodes
Series 75 episodes
Nicholson

1. Nicholson

60 min

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould examine a still life that may have been painted by prolific artist William Nicholson, but which has been rejected by leading experts on his work. They discover a useful source of evidence in Nicholson's own paint box, but as they delve into the painting's history, they discover it may have been connected to one of the 20th century's greatest art crimes. Fiona meets a reformed forger to discover if he ever faked a Nicholson while Philip takes the painting to Canada to compare it to another of the artist's works.

Toulouse-Lautrec

2. Toulouse-Lautrec

60 min

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould must prove that a sketchbook is the work of a young Toulouse-Lautrec, overturning a decision made by a committee of experts on the artist. The drawings in the book are of a very different subject matter to Lautrec's famous works, and are dated to when he was a teenager - a period of his life that is largely a mystery. To get to the truth, Fiona and Philip travel to the town in the south of France where Lautrec grew up and visit the grand family home where he spent much of his youth.

Henry Moore

3. Henry Moore

60 min

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a small watercolour sketch that could be the work of sculptor Henry Moore. The piece was found in 2012 in a hoard of artwork stolen by the Nazis. While the unidentified piece has many characteristics of Moore's work, none of the other artworks recovered were by British artists, so it remains a mystery how it came to be there. The team must not only find out who created it, but also who it belonged to, since it may have been looted from Jewish owners during the Holocaust and will need to be returned to surviving descendants.

A Double Whodunnit

4. A Double Whodunnit

60 min

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate the origins of two paintings by unknown artists dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries, which unusually for the period, depict black subjects. One is a portrait of Dido Belle, a famous former slave adopted into an aristocratic English family in the 1760s, while the other depicts two children against a tropical landscape, and is believed to have been painted as a protest against the slave trade.

Giacometti

5. Giacometti

60 min

The team try to find out whether a white square of plaster is an early work by Giacometti.

Series 84 episodes
Series 94 episodes
Series 104 episodes
Ben Nicholson

1. Ben Nicholson

58 min

When Ian and Julie moved into their Surrey cottage nearly 20 years ago, they discovered a curious wall painting in one of the bedrooms. They had no idea who put it there. Julie wanted to get rid of it as it didn't match her decor plans, while their four-year-old wanted to colour it in with her crayons.

Modigliani

2. Modigliani

60 min

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 Modigliani. Its owner, Henrietta Sitwell, inherited the work and always believed it to be genuine. However, a leading auction house recently cast doubt on its authenticity. If the work is genuine, it could be worth up to £100,000. If not, just a few hundred.

Sisley

3. Sisley

60 min

Fiona Bruce, Philip Mould and the team help Americans Kim and Chuck, who believe their landscape painting is by one of the founders of Impressionism, Alfred Sisley, building a case to prove its authenticity. Kim and Chuck bought the work at auction near Chicago and believe it to be genuine. However, the painting was turned down nearly 10 years ago by the authentication committee, so the team will have to find new evidence to persuade them to change their mind.

Flemish Old Master

4. Flemish Old Master

60 min

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 painters of Northern Renaissance art.

Series 114 episodes
Series 124 episodes
Series 136 episodes

Cast

Fiona Bruce

Fiona Bruce

Self - Presenter

Philip Mould

Philip Mould

Self - Presenter

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