Fake or Fortune (new series BBC 1)

Fake or Fortune is back on our screens and last night I watched a rather disappointing episode in a series I both enjoy and admire.

The subject painting was a depiction of a white chrysanthemum by the celebrated Dutch abstractionist Piet Mondrian.

Most artists have painted flowers and – taking reproductions from catalogues – I have acquired quite a collection of them which I hang in my spare room.

The problem here is that the provenance did not support the painting owned by an American artist and given to him by his mother. That is probably why it was thrice rejected for the catalogue raison née of Mondrian.

Previously, it passed from a collector, to two dealers, to another collector de Graat, whose sale was negotiated by a New York dealer.  However, there were no stock records of the picture nor any other evidence of prior ownership.

Dealers and buyers have to be so vigilant on provenance as, for example, if looted by the Nazis a claim for restitution can follow – as happened with the Gustav Klimt portrait of Adèle Bloch Bauer hanging in one of Vienna ‘s best known museums but reclaimed by family actually the niece of the sitter.

This investigation did take us into the murky world of art forgery.

The art forger, like a jewel thief, enjoys a slightly glamourous reputation and one of the most famous Han van Meergeren, a Dutchman, escaped punishment for selling a Vermeer to Reichsmarshal Herman Goering on the grounds that he had forged it and duped Goering.

The investigation revealed that the provenance – though there were many stamps and lot numbers on the back of the painting – was false and the work of a clever forger.

Art dealers also have access to Artnet, a resource that discloses previous sales and prices, so probably now no dealer would touch this painting although there are a myriad of cases of forgers fooling dealers, museums, collectors and art experts.

Forgers tend to flourish where artists have a distinctive style like L.S. Lowry, or Ken Howard, or reduced production like Vermeer (only 39 validated works) .

Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce were not fooled – nor was the world’s expert on Mondrian – but a lot of the tension leading to the final reveal was lost as, early into the investigation, the provenance problems were apparent.