FAKE OR FORTUNE? Season 7


Episode #101 "Nicholson"
In 2006, Lyn Fuss bought a still life Glass Jug with Pears on Plates by celebrated British artist William Nicholson. William may have been overshadowed by his more famous son Ben Nicholson, but William's paintings are very collectable and fetch high prices. Lyn paid £165,000 for her Nicholson. Then, in 2011, Lyn was told her picture wouldn't appear in the official catalogue raisonne of Nicholson's work. The implication is it's a fake and, as such, is worth next to nothing. Could there have been a mistake? This is a very personal journey for Lyn since she bought the painting from the gallery of her deceased aunt, who was an authority on Nicholson and wrote the previous catalogue raisonne. The team tries to establish if this is a genuine Nicholson. Lyn not only wants to establish if she has lost the £165,000 investment but also hopes it's a chance to clear her aunt's name.

Episode #102 "Toulouse-Lautrec"
The team investigates four sketchbooks that may be the work of a young French master. Alain Brun is a French psychoanalyst who lives in Bordeaux. He was given the sketchbooks by his grandmother in the 1960s and she always maintained they were the work of Toulouse Lautrec. Alain sent them to the Lautrec committee to see if they could be authenticated. They came back saying that it was actually the work of Lautrec's tutor, Princeteau. However, Princeteau experts have disputed this — saying they are far too good. The team searches for evidence to see if they can irrefutably link these sketches to the young Lautrec and change the committee's mind.

Episode #103 "Henry Moore"
The team investigates whether a small watercolour sketch could be by the British 20th-century sculptor Henry Moore. It is thought to be the only piece of a British artist in a Nazi hoard of around 1,500 works discovered in Germany in 2012. Known as the Gurlitt hoard, these works are now housed in the Museum of Fine Art in Bern, Switzerland. Every piece in the hoard has to be researched — if it was art stolen or looted from Jewish families, it should be returned.

Episode #104 "A Double Whodunnit"
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate two rare portraits of black British subjects from the 18th and 19th centuries. Painted with extraordinary skill and sophistication, both pieces of art are highly unusual in their positive depiction of black sitters at a time when Britain was still heavily engaged in slavery. But this is also an intriguing double whodunnit. Who are the artists who broke with the conventions of the time to paint these exceptional works?

Episode #105 "Giacometti"
Twentieth-century sculptures are hot property in the art market. Alberto Giacometti's Pointing Man figure sold for $141m at auction in New York in 2015, making it the most expensive sculpture ever sold. Could a stark, white square of plaster that has been passed down through an English family with art world connections be one of Giacometti's earliest and most daring works?