Fake or fortune

I have enjoyed this series now returning to our screens every Sunday.

Despite its flaws, the main one being the conversations in front of camera are very contrived, it’s always an enjoyable view.

Last Sunday’s episode especially so.

It featured a Henry Moore sketch which finished up in the Gurlit hoard and then the Museum of Fine Art in Berne whose curator asked the programme to authenticate it.

Hildebrand Gurlit was the curator of the Hamburg Fine Art museum but lost his job because the Nazis would not tolerate  his Jewish roots. Nonetheless he was such an expert and clever dealer that he was still appointed to sell off degenerate art. He kept some works for himself which passed to his son who bequeathed the collection to the Fine Art Museum in Bern.

Presenters Fiona Bruce and art dealer Philip Mound  had 2 problems: was it a Henry Moore and was it misappropriated which needed to be restored to the owner?

By speaking to Henry Moore’s daughter Mary and the curator of his collection at his home at Perry Green it was relatively easy to prove it was a sketch by the celebrated sculptor and they traced its provenance.

A letter from Henry Moore to a museum in Germany referring to the sketch was strong evidence supported by verifying the chain that ended up with Hildebrand Gurlit. The Germans are always efficient in maintaining records which helped too.

However quite early  in the programme I thought it would be verified as the museum would want it so. Art, according to Alice Mitchell, is all about vested interest and the modern museum is very savvy so an original Moore in their hands would be extremely attractive. Generally an authentication committee comprised of family are more negative as they want to block any possible forgeries and keep the market confined and but no such committee existed here.

Talking of vested interests, Fiona Bruce’s career from newscaster  to presenter on Sunday evenings of Antiques Roadshow and Fake or Fortune  has prospered whilst Philip Mould an art dealer in Pall Mall would have enhanced his own reputation.

I find their conversations in front of camera irritating. It is fact that anyone – even a composed presenter like Fiona Bruce – behaves differently when a camera is on them.

Still Fake or Fortune has struck a winning formula with the final revelation of whether it is authentic or not provides a fitting coup de grace.