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Fake or Fortune? Series 5 Episode 4 of 4

Every year, the Fake or Fortune team receive hundreds of requests for help from the owners of mysterious portraits. Everyone wants to know two things - who is it, and who painted it?

The team choose three of the most promising portraits to investigate further - a child, believed to be by prized modern artist Willem de Kooning, a young lady, attributed to 18th-century society painter Philip Mercier, and a formidable-looking man, said to be by 19th-century German master Adolph von Menzel.

Philip Mould takes on the de Kooning case, meeting Belgian owners Jan and Chris Starckx. Could a speculative online purchase for 450 euros be a lost work painted by de Kooning in Brussels at the very start of his career? The quest to prove it leads to Miami, Florida, where scientific analysis of a similar work has the potential to yield vital evidence.

Fiona Bruce wants to know how an 18th-century portrait of a lady ended up in the flat of Richard and Jenny Williams, a retired couple in Eastbourne. Conservation work might help reveal some secrets while research into the life of the artist provides some clues about the identity of the mystery lady.

The investigation into the portrait of The Old Gentleman takes an unexpected turn when the team delve into the story of owner Lance Miller's grandfather, a German industrialist who bought the painting in 1947. With Menzel's work frequently targeted by forgers, has Lance inherited a rare treasure - or something more sinister?

Three pictures, three important artists - but as scientific testing and investigative research unlock long-held secrets, will every story have a happy ending?

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00:00The art world, where paintings change hands for fortunes.
00:06Selling at $95 million.
00:08But for every known masterpiece, there may be another still waiting to be discovered.
00:12Well, that's it. Well, that's it, isn't it?
00:14That is it. That is our painting.
00:16International art dealer Philip Mould and I have teamed up to hunt for lost works by great artists.
00:23We use old-fashioned detective work and state-of-the-art science to get to the truth.
00:28Science can enable us to see beyond the human eye.
00:32Ta-da!
00:33Oh, wow!
00:34The problem is, not every painting is quite what it seems.
00:38You successfully faked Larry's, even while you're at school, didn't you?
00:42Yes.
00:43It's a journey that can end in joy.
00:45Oh!
00:46Isn't that great?
00:47It's wonderful.
00:48Or bitter disappointment.
00:50I can't cope with this rollercoaster. What a nightmare.
00:53In this episode, a first for Fake or Fortune, we're going to investigate three paintings.
01:03Each one a bewitching portrait with a mystery behind it.
01:07I'd just like to know who painted it.
01:09Can we find answers to the questions that have obsessed their owners?
01:13Who is it?
01:14Somebody's daughter, and we want to know. Love to know.
01:19It's a journey that takes us from the south coast of England to the east coast of America,
01:25and plunges us into the dark days of the Second World War.
01:28That's a time when fakers and criminals were very busy.
01:34It's an art world whodunit with three key suspects.
01:37We could be talking about either a real William de Kooning or a really good old fake.
01:43That's a very good fake.
01:45But as we unlock long-held secrets and carry out in-depth scientific research,
01:50how many stories will have a happy ending?
01:53If the people who sold it to you did not have the right to sell it, you don't own it.
01:59Every year, we receive hundreds of requests for help from viewers.
02:13And out of all the pictures we receive, nothing captures the imagination quite like a portrait.
02:20We're sorting the contenders from the pretenders with our specialist researcher, Dr Ben Dorr-Grovner.
02:25This is one of the most copied pictures we ever see.
02:28So a copy or a lesser artist?
02:30Not quite as dynamic as it should be.
02:32And we're going to choose three of the most promising to investigate further.
02:36We want to know who the subject of the painting is and who painted it.
02:42Starting with this striking portrait of a child holding a ball.
02:46It's edgy, it's captivating. I like its rather abstract qualities.
02:50The strong blast of red.
02:52The owners are from Belgium. They're called Jan and Chris Starks.
02:55And does the owner have any idea who it might be by?
02:58The suggestion is that it's actually an original work by William de Kooning, an early painting.
03:02Wow. Well, that would be something.
03:04William de Kooning, I think, one of the great names of 20th century art.
03:08The contemporary of Jackson Pollock.
03:10He's painting itself for hundreds of millions.
03:12As an early figurative work, this would be an extremely rare thing.
03:15I mean, there's just a handful of them known.
03:17We've got our first candidate, portrait of a child attributed to William de Kooning.
03:23As an early work, it could be worth over £50,000.
03:28Next up, a portrait that's been hand-delivered for examination.
03:32I really like this picture. It's by, or purports to be, by a great German 19th century artist called Adolf von Menzel,
03:39who in the 19th century in Germany was big news.
03:42He's a fascinating figure, sort of self-taught genius.
03:45I've got an email here from the owner.
03:47It's from a chap called Lance Miller, who works in advertising.
03:50And actually, his email reads like a brilliantly concise bit of advertising copy.
03:54My German grandfather bought what we all have known to be a Menzel just after the war.
04:00Documentation was lost in the annals of time.
04:02If not a Menzel, then who?
04:04Do you know, I really like this. It's swift and certain in the handling.
04:08I like the characterisation. It rather grabs you.
04:11And if we can actually prove that this is by Menzel, it's a picture that's also very valuable.
04:16We've got our second picture, portrait of an old gentleman attributed to Adolf von Menzel.
04:22Another £50,000 for this chap, if it's genuine.
04:26Just one more to find.
04:28Well, take a look at this one which caught my eye,
04:30this rather charming young lady looking down at us through the centuries.
04:33She belongs to a retired couple, Jenny and Richard Williams,
04:36who live down on the south coast, and they think it could be by an artist called Mercier.
04:40I've always really liked Philip Mercier, actually.
04:42He's one of those French artists who comes to Britain in the 18th century
04:45and sort of brings a cultural infusion of French work.
04:48I've handled a number of Merciers in my time.
04:51He's an artist who is actually worth proving.
04:54He's represented in a number of art galleries and museums throughout Britain.
04:59I think this has got a real chance.
05:01Our final contender, portrait of a lady attributed to Philip Mercier,
05:06worth £5,000 to £10,000 if right.
05:10The challenge has been set.
05:12Three mystery paintings.
05:14Portrait of a lady, the old gentleman and portrait of a child,
05:18believed to be by three important artists.
05:20Can we get to the truth?
05:22Yeah, that's a good three horse race, then.
05:24I want to get going.
05:25We've contacted the owners of all three paintings to find out more about their works,
05:33starting with two viewers in Belgium.
05:35Jan Starks, the retired head of youth services in the town of Turnut,
05:40and his wife, Chris.
05:42They want us to examine Portrait of a Child, a painting they bought online at the end of 2015.
05:48So they've travelled to London to meet me in person.
05:51Jan, how nice to meet you.
05:53Nice to meet you.
05:54Chris, how very good to meet you as well.
05:55So you've just brought this over on the train from Brussels?
05:57Yes.
05:58Could they have discovered a lost work by one of the most celebrated and valuable modern artists,
06:04Willem de Kooning?
06:06So this is a portrait of a child, looks like a boy,
06:10but it's not your normal sentimental type of painting of a young person of that date.
06:17The way that it's all structured is so interesting.
06:20It's quite angular. It's quite tough.
06:23Look at the sharpness of the fringe of the child.
06:27I mean, could it? Could it just be the beginnings of an artist
06:32who turns into one of the great abstract painters?
06:35De Kooning is best known as a leader of the abstract expressionist movement
06:39that emerged in America after the war,
06:41renowned for his spontaneous approach and bold use of colour,
06:45as seen in Interchange, reportedly sold in 2015 for $300 million.
06:52He achieved his greatest success in America,
06:55where he spent most of his life,
06:57yet he was born in Rotterdam in 1904 and raised in Holland.
07:01And in 1924, just before he emigrated to the USA,
07:05he spent several months in the Belgian capital Brussels.
07:09Could Jan's painting be a lost portrait of a child
07:12he encountered during this little-known period of his early life?
07:16One thing I did notice, though, is that it's signed.
07:20It looks like Wim Koning.
07:22Wim Koning, yes.
07:23But not William de Kooning?
07:25No.
07:26The signature is carved into the wet paint.
07:29It must have been done by the back of a brush
07:31or something with a point to it.
07:33That's rather key to me,
07:35because it would appear that the signature has been put on
07:38at the same date that the picture was created.
07:41And it looks like an old painting.
07:43So we could be talking about either a real William de Kooning
07:48or a really good old fake.
07:50Yes, it's a very good fake.
07:51How did you come by it?
07:53Each evening I spend my time scanning the Internet
07:57looking for small artworks.
07:59I came across this and I was struck by the portrait in its totality.
08:05So we decided to go to Brussels.
08:07We met the defenders.
08:09He also sold a bike and a sewing machine
08:11and some other portraits.
08:13So it could have been a bike, a sewing machine or a de Kooning.
08:16So, Chris, how much did you have to pay for it?
08:18450 euros.
08:21And did you at that point ask where the owner
08:24may have got the picture from?
08:25I asked him and he told me it was from a friend
08:28of him and that it was his friend's father when he was eight.
08:35And have you managed to confirm that?
08:37No.
08:38If we could prove that this was by William de Kooning,
08:43it would be a real achievement.
08:45Now, it's not, of course, a late work of the type
08:50that people spill blood for at auction in America,
08:54but it is still a significant work.
08:58So there's a lot to fight for here.
09:01A lot to fight for, yes.
09:03If Jan and Chris's portrait is a genuine work by William de Kooning,
09:09it would be valuable in terms of art history,
09:11as so little of his early work survives.
09:14The only in-depth study of de Kooning's time in Europe
09:18was made by historian Dr. Judith Wolff in 1996.
09:21And our specialist researcher, Dr. Bendor Grosvenor,
09:25is hoping it might contain vital evidence.
09:28This dissertation gives us a fascinating insight
09:31into the short time that de Kooning spent in Belgium.
09:33And it describes how in 1924 he went to Brussels
09:37with his friend and a fellow artist,
09:39someone called Wimpy Klopp.
09:41Who am I to make a comment about someone's unusual name?
09:44But apparently they worked for a decorating firm
09:46called Van Gonechten.
09:48And what's really good for us
09:50is that when he was working for the Van Gonechtens,
09:52de Kooning left a number of works.
09:54Some of these were signed Wim Kooning.
09:57That's the same signature we find on Jan's picture.
10:02The dissertation also reveals
10:04that de Kooning painted at least one portrait in oil
10:08during his time in Brussels.
10:10It depicts the young niece of a member
10:12of the Van Gonechten family,
10:14and it's known as Portrait of René.
10:17By a stroke of luck, that portrait of René
10:19actually came up for sale at auction recently.
10:21It was sold at Christie's in New York in 2014,
10:24and it made $50,000.
10:27That was actually seeing this picture online
10:30that prompted Jan to buy his picture.
10:32And I've got to say,
10:33it does bear a striking resemblance to his painting.
10:35So this is a fully accepted published work by de Kooning
10:39from the same period as Jan and Chris's picture.
10:41It's absolutely crucial
10:43in terms of helping to authenticate our picture.
10:45And I think the question is, where is it now?
10:50While Bendor continues his research,
10:52I'm heading to Eastbourne, on the south coast of England,
10:55to begin my investigation into Portrait of a Lady,
10:58believed to be by Philip Mercier,
11:00an 18th-century artist
11:02who specialised in painting higher society families.
11:07Born in Berlin in 1689 to French Huguenot parents,
11:12Philip Mercier made his name in England,
11:14where he became a court painter
11:16to the Prince and Princess of Wales in the 1720s.
11:19His pictures were dubbed fancies
11:22for the way they heightened scenes of everyday life
11:25with imaginative touches.
11:29Mercier left London after he fell out of favour
11:31and settled in York in 1740,
11:34where he continued painting portraits of the local gentry.
11:38Could one of his handsome portraits
11:40now be hanging in the living room
11:42of retired salesman Richard Williams
11:44and his wife, Jenny.
11:47This is a beautiful young woman gazing down on us.
11:49Where did you acquire her?
11:51I went to an auction in 72, 73.
11:56And do you mind me asking how much you paid for her?
11:5850 pounds.
11:59When Jen said she spent 50 pounds on a painting,
12:03I said, how much? 50 pounds?
12:06But as soon as I saw it, I thought that's, you know,
12:09I could see the attraction on it.
12:11It just keeps on looking at you all the time.
12:14Not scarily, but she's a person in the room.
12:18And years later, we adopted a little girl.
12:21As she grew, she looked remarkably like her.
12:26Did you find out anything about her?
12:28What we decided to do is take a picture
12:31and send it to the National Portrait Gallery.
12:33And they came back to us and said,
12:35we think it's by someone called Philip Mercier.
12:37And judging by the style of the dress,
12:39probably about 1730 to 40,
12:42but he's sending a copy of the painting, a picture,
12:45to John Ingamel, who is an expert in York.
12:50And he came down and looked at it, did he?
12:52Yeah, he came, yeah.
12:54And he had this great big lamp with him, and he...
12:57Oh, yeah, we're familiar with those.
12:58Philip's got one of those.
13:00He, um, he shone it up the picture.
13:03What did he find?
13:05He found a signature,
13:07P.H. Mercier, Feckett, 1742.
13:11So Philip Mercier, Feckett, made it in Latin.
13:14And he said, oh, yes, it says it there.
13:17We can't see it.
13:19We're locked and locked and locked, we can't see it.
13:21When was this?
13:23This was in...
13:2475.
13:25Probably 74 or 5.
13:26We don't know whether he's put any documents or anything like that,
13:31but we didn't get anything.
13:32But he didn't give you...
13:33But you didn't get anything in writing?
13:34No.
13:35And you've not heard from him ever again?
13:36No, not heard from him since.
13:38Richard and Jenny's anecdotal evidence
13:40isn't enough for the art market.
13:42Can we turn up anything more substantial?
13:45So what would you like to know?
13:46How can we help you?
13:47Who is it?
13:48She's just somebody.
13:49She's not just a painting.
13:51She's somebody's daughter.
13:53And we want to know.
13:55Love to know.
13:56So you'd like to know,
13:57is it definitely by this artist, Philip Mercier?
13:59Yes, we would.
14:00Yes, we would.
14:01And who is she?
14:05If we're going to help Richard and Jenny solve the mystery
14:07of the portrait of a lady,
14:09we'll need to find out if John Ingemels,
14:12the art expert who saw the painting in the 1970s,
14:15kept any records.
14:17Ingemels died in 2013,
14:19but Bendor has come to the Library of the Courtauld Institute in London
14:22to look through his papers in search of evidence.
14:25I've got here a copy of Ingemels' catalogue of Mercier pictures.
14:30So it contains everything that Ingemels thought was definitely by Mercier.
14:34And there is indeed an entry which sounds very like the Williams' painting.
14:38It describes a half-length young lady facing to the left
14:42in a blue dress with a yellow wrap within a painted oval.
14:45And it says,
14:46Signed and dated, Philip Mercier, fake it, 1742.
14:50But unfortunately, the catalogue is not illustrated.
14:54And the ownership information just says private collection.
14:57So we can't be absolutely sure
15:00that Ingemels is referring to our picture here.
15:04The Library also holds several boxes of loose photographs
15:07of Mercier's paintings and a guide to an exhibition
15:10that may help us narrow the search for our mystery young lady.
15:15When you're looking into a portrait like this,
15:17you always want to try and identify the sitter
15:19because it makes the picture more interesting and also more valuable.
15:23If the Williams' painting is indeed signed and dated 1742,
15:28then that means it was painted while Mercier was working in York,
15:32where he was based from 1739 to 1751.
15:35And I've got here a list of some of the important families
15:38that Mercier was working for.
15:40They include the Irwins of Temple Newsome,
15:43the Rockinghams of Wentworth Woodhouse,
15:45and the Worsleys of Hovingham.
15:48In fact, I've got a photograph here of one of those Worsley portraits.
15:52And in the oval surround and the date,
15:55it matches exactly the Williams' painting.
15:58So could it be that the Williams' sitter
16:00is actually a member of one of these families?
16:03Finding a description of a painting that seems to match our portrait of a lady is encouraging,
16:09but it's vital that we prove that the portrait was indeed signed
16:12and dated by the artist Philip Mercier.
16:15I've arranged for Simon Gillespie, a specialist art conservator,
16:18to examine the picture in his London studio.
16:21And owners Richard and Jenny Williams are joining us for a closer look.
16:25Let's talk about the condition for a moment,
16:29because she looks as if she's hung in a smoky pub.
16:31When we bought it, we hung it on the wall
16:33and we were looking at it and looking at it
16:35and we thought, this deserves to be restored.
16:38And we told a friend of ours who said,
16:42oh, don't bother with restoration.
16:44I'll do it for you. There's nothing to this restoration.
16:47She did, honestly.
16:49So she took it away and she brought it back
16:52and she was pleased with it,
16:53but, you know, it's obviously not done it any good.
16:56Well, let's say she brought it back.
16:58She brought most of it back.
16:59The rest was in the sink, I think.
17:01Yeah.
17:02I mean, it's got, you know, a lot of cracking on the surface.
17:06And then there's this rather unfortunate hole here.
17:08Did that come with the painting?
17:10No.
17:11Somebody borrowed it for an art talk
17:14and it came back like that.
17:17These days we can repair this sort of thing quite easily.
17:19But in terms of the signature,
17:21it makes it all the more important, I think,
17:23since we're not quite there.
17:24To prove it.
17:25To prove it.
17:26Now, Simon, you've had your UV light over this painting.
17:29I put all sorts of different lights on it at the moment.
17:32It's very difficult to see
17:34because it is very dirty
17:36and he signs in a dark black paint.
17:39It's not very helpful, is it?
17:40Not very helpful at all, no.
17:42But we've got a replica signature here of how he signs.
17:48So he signs really quite large.
17:52Simon's hoping that the portrait might reveal its secrets
17:55if he applies a light washer solvent
17:57to the area where he thinks the signature should be.
18:02Will that all-important name, Philip Mercier, magically reappear?
18:07So this allows us to see...
18:16It's a little bit like wetting a pebble on the beach.
18:19So you can see the colours come alive.
18:22And actually it allows one to see, you know,
18:24through the dirty varnish.
18:26Very obvious now.
18:27Philip Mercier, fake it.
18:29And then this funny little inscription down here.
18:32Little black numbers and letters.
18:35Great.
18:36So we're getting closer to the mystery woman
18:38in your sitting room.
18:39Yes.
18:40With all these years.
18:41And the great thing is there's clearly a signature there.
18:43Yes.
18:44Which looks like a Philip Mercier signature,
18:45so it's looking increasingly like a genuine look.
18:48Wonderful.
18:49Yeah, love it.
18:52Finding the signature is a major breakthrough.
18:54But Simon is hoping that photographs
18:56taken under infrared and ultraviolet light
18:59might also reveal the date it was painted,
19:02which could then lead us to the identity of the sitter.
19:07Back in Philip's gallery,
19:08we've all gathered together
19:09to take stock of the latest developments.
19:11Let's talk about the portrait of a young lady to begin with.
19:13Have we heard anything back from Simon Gillespie?
19:16Well, they just sent us this enhanced infrared photograph
19:19with a signature,
19:20and I think it's quite encouraging.
19:21It says P. H. Mercier.
19:23And then we can zoom in on the date,
19:26which says 1744.
19:29Hang on, because that's different to the date
19:31that the owners, Rich and Jenny,
19:33were told by the late John Ingemels.
19:35He told them it was 1742.
19:37Well, I don't think we need to get too hung up on that.
19:39I mean, you can see how it might have happened.
19:41Easy mistake.
19:42Dirty picture.
19:43Blurry signature.
19:44Very easy to misread.
19:45I think it'd be quite good just to clean it a bit more,
19:48just freshen it up so we can see what we're dealing with.
19:52In view particularly of that date issue,
19:54it would be worth getting another expert opinion on it.
19:58With Portrait of a Lady heading for a makeover,
20:00we're shifting our focus to our other two paintings,
20:03starting with Portrait of a Child,
20:06believed to be by Willem de Kooning.
20:08I've been having a look at the labels on the back of the de Kooning.
20:10It relates to a company called Moemen in Brussels,
20:13and they were making artists' supplies.
20:16Here, in fact, is one of their brochures from 1921.
20:20So in terms of the time period when we want de Kooning
20:22to have painted this in Belgium,
20:24we're right in the right zone.
20:26It says, Maison Moemen fabrique de couleurs, toiles, panneaux et vernis.
20:30So, makers of paints, canvases, panels and varnish.
20:34So they did the whole kit and caboodle.
20:36I guess the question is, did they supply Willem de Kooning?
20:39You know, I'm getting really excited about the research prospects
20:42for this picture, because we've come across another image
20:45done by de Kooning, and it is unquestionably very close to Jan and Chris's.
20:51But if we can actually put the two together, put them side by side,
20:54it could be transformative in getting an insight into this picture.
20:57Yet the question is, though, can we get the owners to agree?
21:00We've got to go via an auction house,
21:02and I know full well that that can be really tricky.
21:05For now, we'll have to wait for further information,
21:08which leaves us with our final painting,
21:10the formidable-looking old gentleman,
21:13attributed to German artist Adolf von Menzel.
21:16We've been comparing the initials in the bottom corner
21:19with those on other known works, and there are encouraging similarities.
21:23I think we should take a really close look at those initials.
21:27If we can prove that they were put on at the same date as the picture,
21:30and the picture has to be 19th century, it just looks it,
21:33it could be a really significant advance
21:36in trying to prove the Menzel attribution.
21:38I want to talk to the owner as well.
21:40It's Lance Miller who sent us the e-mail.
21:42I want to find out more about how his grandfather did come
21:44to acquire a painting by one of Germany's most revered artists
21:48in the trauma of the years straight after the Second World War.
21:54I've arranged to meet owner Lance Miller,
21:57managing director of a marketing firm,
21:59to find out more about the intriguing painting
22:01that belonged to his German grandfather,
22:03Erich von Renkwitz.
22:05So tell us how this painting came into your family.
22:08It came from my mother.
22:09I mean, she's had it all her life in the family.
22:12We call it the Old General.
22:13And her father, Erich von Renkwitz,
22:15who lived in Bad Honniff am Rhein.
22:18Bought it, we think, in about 1947.
22:20And we've got photo albums around us.
22:22Have you got a picture of him?
22:23Yeah, he's in here.
22:24I mean, actually, I've got his wedding photograph,
22:26which is very old and Edwardian.
22:28There he is with my grandmother.
22:30My grandmother was English.
22:32His name, Renkwitz, came from Leipzig, I believe.
22:35So he's Prussian.
22:37So was he a collector of art?
22:39And would he have had the means to buy a painting
22:41by someone as important as von Menzel?
22:43Oh, I think he definitely had the means.
22:45They were quite wealthy.
22:47A picture by Adolf von Menzel
22:49would have been quite a trophy for any collector.
22:52Born in 1815, Menzel was a precocious talent
22:56who exhibited his first drawing at the age of 12.
23:02Renowned for his attention to detail
23:04and ability to evoke Germany's 18th century past.
23:10Even his rough sketches are highly prized,
23:12with a study for suits of armour
23:14selling for almost £3 million in 2015.
23:19Could the old general be a sketch like this?
23:23There is a letter that we found
23:24that my grandfather wrote to my mother and my father.
23:28He said, I'm just about to buy two very important paintings.
23:31And when was this written?
23:33This is 1947, so he died in 1948.
23:36We'll need to scour any records relating to Lance's grandfather,
23:40a prominent industrialist,
23:41for clues about the origins of the painting.
23:44But it won't be easy.
23:46Among the family photos are stark reminders
23:48of the chaos and upheaval of the Second World War.
23:51The fact that your grandfather may have acquired this painting
23:55around 1947, so after the Second World War,
23:57does, you know, ring some alarm bells,
23:59because obviously so much art in Germany
24:01had been stolen from Jewish families,
24:03appropriated by the Nazis.
24:05You know, it's a very dark time.
24:07I did some homework,
24:08and I've written to the Art Loss Register.
24:10I showed him a picture of the painting.
24:12So the Art Loss Register is where the paintings
24:14that were stolen from many Jewish families
24:16have been sort of catalogued.
24:19And they wrote back to me and said,
24:21No, there's no trace.
24:22This is definitely your painting.
24:23It's in your family.
24:24Has anyone ever examined this painting?
24:26Have you asked anyone to give an opinion on it?
24:28The National Gallery had an exhibition of Menzel,
24:30and an expert said,
24:32This looks good,
24:34but you'll have to take it to Germany
24:36because that's where all the big Menzel experts are there.
24:39And if it does turn out to be a Von Menzel,
24:41will you continue passing it down to the family,
24:43or will you look at it rather differently?
24:45I think I would like to.
24:47I think they would turn around to me, to be honest,
24:49and say, Sell it, Dan, get the money.
24:50But, hey, I will educate them.
24:52I will educate them.
24:53It's...
24:54What, this is your family heritage?
24:56Well, yeah, absolutely, in a way.
24:57And, you know, I'd just like to know who painted it.
25:04It's very interesting talking to Lance
25:06and hearing about his family's links to that painting,
25:10the Anglo-German connections in his family.
25:13Clearly, to investigate if this is a Menzel,
25:15we're going to have to dig deep into one of the darkest periods
25:18in German history.
25:19That's a time when fakers and criminals were very busy.
25:30Our best hope of finding answers to Lance's questions
25:33lies in Germany.
25:34So Bendor has travelled to Berlin in search of evidence.
25:38He's arranged to meet Lance at the city's old National Gallery,
25:42where many of Menzel's most important works are on display.
25:48Menzel was fascinated by the life of Frederick the Great,
25:51who ruled Prussia in the 18th century,
25:53and evoked his military campaigns in epic oil paintings.
25:57Could Lance's picture be a sketch
25:59for one of these historical figures in the paintings?
26:02These are two pictures from Menzel's Frederick the Second series.
26:07Mm-hm.
26:08In the 1850s, he was slightly obsessed with Frederick the Second,
26:10and he did a whole series of large pictures
26:12looking back to events in the mid-18th century.
26:15Right.
26:16This one is Frederick the Second meeting the Emperor Joseph the Second in 1769.
26:21And I think with your picture we've got, have we not, a picture that's obviously painted in the 19th century,
26:26but looking back to the 18th century in terms of the costume and the hair and everything.
26:31Well, we call him the old General, so I'm looking at this and I'm thinking,
26:34well, he could be in there somewhere.
26:36Oh, yes, maybe he should.
26:37You know, it's the same sort of uniforms.
26:39But this seems unfinished, this one. This is huge painting.
26:41Yes, this is, I love unfinished pictures, but actually what's interesting about this one
26:46is it shows us a scene outdoors, and they're not in the formal court dress.
26:51So, with your picture we've got someone who's not in a wig.
26:54The hair is all blown back, so he looks quite casual.
26:57Yes, I wonder if it's someone from a more military, outdoors-type setting.
27:03You can imagine him being dropped into one of these scenes, can't you?
27:05Yes, absolutely.
27:08The similarities between the old General and some of Menzel's characters
27:12would seem to support our working theory that Lance's picture could be a sketch
27:16for a more elaborate work.
27:18Unless that's exactly what a forger wants us to believe.
27:26Can we be sure Lance's portrait was painted in the mid-19th century,
27:30when Menzel was working on precisely this kind of subject?
27:36I've arranged to meet Aviva Bernstock, head conservator at the Courtauld Institute in London.
27:41She's been examining the painting under the microscope and under infrared lights
27:45and is ready to share her findings with us.
27:48We think that Von Menzel painted this portrait in the mid-to-late 19th century.
27:51Now, what have you found out about the pigments? Do they come from that time?
27:54There's quite a limited palette, but all the pigments, which include zinc and lead white,
28:00and vermilion, are all available from the middle of the 19th century through to the 20th century.
28:05So, yes, I would say that the pigments indicate that date period.
28:10What about the signature? What can you tell us about that?
28:12Was that done at the same time as the portrait?
28:15I think the black signature was put on top of the paint when it was pretty much dry,
28:19but there's a little flick of the A which drags into the wet paint,
28:22and you can see it's blended in, so it was applied just as the paint was drying.
28:26So it couldn't be that someone had done this painting and then years later put a fake signature on that?
28:31It seemed very unlikely.
28:33Aviva is confident that the old general was signed by the artist who painted it
28:38and that it could have been done during Menzel's lifetime.
28:41But is there a risk that it's just a good quality copy of a lost original work?
28:47In terms of it being a copy or a genuine work,
28:50what can you tell us about the way it's been painted that would suggest one way or the other?
28:55A copy would normally be controlled and meticulously worked out.
29:00Maybe there would be a detailed drawing underneath,
29:02and there isn't any detailed drawing in this case,
29:04just a few strokes of something that looks like pencil or graphite.
29:07And secondly, you would expect the brush strokes to be quite small and careful.
29:12Very controlled.
29:13Whereas this one is very controlled, but this is actually very freely painted.
29:16It's clear that it's been done very quickly
29:18and with somebody who knows how to apply paint directly to get the effects he wants.
29:23Aviva's appraisal is encouraging, but it will fall to experts in Germany
29:28to determine whether Lance's picture bears the hallmarks of Adolf von Menzel.
29:32We're preparing a series of high-resolution photographs for them to examine
29:38and to give their first impressions.
29:45While we wait for news from Germany, there's an exciting development
29:50with our portrait of a child, believed to be by Willem de Kooning.
29:54We've finally tracked down the early de Kooning portrait that sold in 2014,
29:59but it's in Miami, Florida.
30:01I'm accompanying owners Yan and Chris Starks on a pilgrimage
30:05to see the painting that might hold the key
30:08to proving theirs is the genuine article.
30:11We've managed to persuade the owner of the painting,
30:14art historian Mary Frank,
30:16to let us examine her picture, Portrait of Renée,
30:20painted by de Kooning in Brussels in 1924.
30:23We've arranged to meet her at a conservation studio,
30:26and we've brought Yan and Chris's portrait with us
30:29to see how it compares to a genuine early work by William de Kooning.
30:34Mary, hello. How very nice to see you. Very nice to meet you.
30:37Very nice to meet you. Yan. Nice to meet you.
30:39And Chris. Nice to meet you.
30:41And this is the picture we've crossed the Atlantic to see.
30:44How does it look in the flesh?
30:46I've seen it already a thousand times on a picture,
30:49but to see it in real, it's very exciting.
30:52Well, Mary, as you know, we've come over here to see your painting,
30:56and we've got to find out how did it come into your life,
30:59and how do you know that it's actually by de Kooning?
31:01Well, I spotted it at Christie's in New York in 2014,
31:05and she immediately caught my eye.
31:08De Kooning was a great draftsman,
31:10and looking at the way that the hands are drawn and outlined,
31:15they're outlined in charcoal and then painted in,
31:17and this is something that de Kooning did throughout his career.
31:20So, stylistically, you were very comfortable,
31:22but presumably you had provenance,
31:24because isn't this in the literature?
31:26Well, it came directly from the Van Genecten family.
31:28Yes. Painted in Belgium.
31:30At the same time that yours might have been.
31:32I think so.
31:33So this is a solid, copper-bottomed de Kooning
31:36of the sort of date that we think yours might have been painted.
31:39Yes.
31:40This is the moment Yan and Chris have been waiting for.
31:44How does their picture look when placed side by side with a genuine work?
31:50Staggering, I think.
31:52I'm more sure now I see the other painting than I was before,
31:56because looking on a picture is different,
31:59because you don't see the depth of the paint.
32:02It's lovely to see them together.
32:04It's where we're waiting for for weeks now.
32:07At a glance, it's so clear to me that these appear to be by the same artist.
32:12The line of the hair in both cases.
32:14And the sort of design quality of the shapes.
32:17They're like mannequins.
32:19And actually, there's also another aspect about this.
32:22It's the expressions.
32:23You know, both of them have got slightly unsettling, aloof,
32:27rather distant feelings about them.
32:29There's a photograph of Rene as a child,
32:33and she has the same rather obstinate, determined look on her face in the photograph.
32:39Yes.
32:40It's very interesting.
32:41And the big distinction that one can immediately notice
32:44is that yours, Yan and Chris, is signed and yours isn't.
32:48Correct.
32:49My theory on that, as an art historian,
32:52is that this painting was made for the Van Genecten family as a gift.
32:57He was staying with them.
32:58Little Rene was in the house.
33:00So he painted her as a thank you.
33:03Perhaps someone saw this painting and commissioned him to do a painting of their child.
33:08In which case, there's a material value associated with it, and he would sign it.
33:12It's more logic that he would sign it, yeah.
33:15Should we have a look at the bags to see if there's any further clues?
33:18Yes.
33:19OK.
33:20Do you want to tell you?
33:21Mm-hmm.
33:26Oh, my goodness.
33:27The same label.
33:29The same artist supplier.
33:31Yeah.
33:32It's Moments, from Brussels.
33:34Same design of label.
33:35This looks a slightly lighter colour.
33:38That shows that whoever painted this picture used the same supplier, the same materials.
33:44And we know de Kooning used one lot,
33:46so why not de Kooning the other?
33:52Even with evidence mounting in favour of Jan and Chris's painting, convincing the art world that it's a genuine work by William de Kooning is fought with difficulty.
34:03The American modern art market is still reeling from the forgery scandal that saw art dealer Glafira Rosales plead guilty in 2013 to her part in the sale of fakes said to be by artists such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and William de Kooning.
34:20Organisations that might once have authenticated newly discovered works of art have shut up shop, so I've arranged to meet Colette Lowell, an art detective who specialises in the authentication of modern art, to see where Jan and Chris stand.
34:35So what we've discovered so far I think is really encouraging.
34:39Now normally what we would do is we would package up this information and we would present it to a catalogue raisonne writer, to a foundation, but in this instance I think we've got a problem, have we not?
34:49The de Kooning Foundation no longer renders an opinion about the authentication of a given work of art.
34:56Unfortunately in this litigious environment in the United States what worries people is being sued.
35:01You can be sued if you say something is right and it turns out to be wrong and you can be sued if you say it's wrong and it turns out to be right.
35:07It's really a no-win situation for many experts and many just don't want to take the risk of giving an opinion publicly.
35:13There must be some other way round this because the evidence as it's mounting I think is extremely convincing.
35:19Right.
35:20I find it convincing, I'm in the art world.
35:22Right.
35:23So is there some other way round this if the bodies themselves are fearful of being sued?
35:28I'm afraid stylistically it could be perfect, but you don't have a body or a...
35:36That says, it is.
35:38Right, you need an authoritative body to say this is or is not.
35:42And when you don't have the body like a foundation then you need one expert that's going to step up and say I will take the risk of rendering an opinion.
35:51And if you don't have that then you really are handcuffed.
35:56And this picture might just be held hostage.
35:59We call it painting purgatory.
36:01Sometimes these pictures can sit in purgatory in limbo for decades before the market finally accepts them as authentic.
36:09Colette's sobering assessment of how difficult it might be for Jan and Chris to have their painting accepted as a genuine work has come as a bit of a blow after the excitement of comparing it to Portrait of Rene.
36:28So I'm eager to discuss their next steps before they return to Europe.
36:33We really have made some wonderful progress in Miami.
36:37I mean we've proved that your picture stylistically looks pretty well exactly like another known painting by de Kooning from that date.
36:45But as you've heard the art world can be a cynical and political place.
36:49How do you feel about that?
36:51In the beginning I had this gut feeling that this wasn't de Kooning and it's still not proved but it's going the good direction I think.
36:58And what difference would it make to you if we could prove it?
37:02If it's proved to be a genuine Willem de Kooning I think we have found a very interesting work which could be a part of the puzzle in his very young life and his work in Brussels.
37:20But the question is now can we find out more provenance? Can we take that picture back to the day it was painted?
37:26We hope to ask the vendor again to give us some information. He is the guy who found it.
37:40While Jan and Chris return to Belgium to continue their inquiries, I want to take advantage of the unique opportunity we have in Miami
37:49for detailed scientific analysis.
37:52Scientist Dr. Bruce Kaiser and conservator Emily MacDonald-Korth are using a portable X radiograph gun to identify the chemical elements within the oil paint.
38:04First they analyse Portrait of Rene to precisely identify the unique ingredients in each pigment that Willem de Kooning used.
38:13The red dress worn by the young girl in Portrait of Rene contains a distinctive blend of vermilion.
38:20So how does the robe in Jan and Chris's picture compare?
38:24Next we're going to do the red of his robe.
38:28I'm ready when you are.
38:30Could there possibly be a matching pigment?
38:34Ready.
38:35Ready.
38:36And away we go.
38:39So you've analysed the elements of the real de Kooning picture and now we're trying to establish if it's shared in any way by our picture.
38:47That's exactly what we're doing.
38:49So what we're seeing is the elemental pattern and so it's going to show us basically the identity of the elements present in each of the pigments.
38:59And it shows them very quickly within 30 seconds.
39:02And we'll see it on the graph.
39:03And you'll see it on the graph.
39:05Vividly.
39:06Matter of fact I've already looked and the two pigments match.
39:09Two already.
39:11It's vermilion?
39:12It is.
39:13Wow.
39:14Well that's a heartening beginning.
39:16Two of the elements match.
39:18Yes.
39:19And the amount of vermilion he's using in the paint would have been very expensive.
39:23Which means that he had access to enough vermilion to be able to mute it down and not even use it for what it's known for which is its bright red saturation.
39:33And what's really interesting this is a little brighter red so the intensity of mercury is higher.
39:39And this is a little muted and indeed this does look a little more orange.
39:44So this expensive trait can be found in both pictures?
39:47It is definitely a correlation between the two.
39:49A shared profile?
39:50A shared profile and something that I would not have expected.
39:54We'll have to wait for Bruce to process the full results but the discovery of an identical pigment in both paintings is a thrilling development.
40:05While Philip has been making good progress in Miami, specialist conservator Simon Gillespie has been busy working on the 18th century portrait of a young lady that we believe to be by Philip Mercier.
40:17The old layer of discolored varnish has been removed, that unsightly hole patched up, and the final touch-ups are being applied.
40:29The picture will now be inspected by Dr. Brian Allen, a specialist in 18th century portraiture.
40:35Will he confirm that the painting is indeed the work of Philip Mercier?
40:40With Philip back from Miami, we've invited owners Richard and Jenny Williams to come to the gallery to hear the verdict.
40:47Hi, Jenny and Richard. Good to see you. This is Philip.
40:50How do you do? Very nice to meet you both.
40:52Nice to meet you.
40:53So here's the painting, back from Simon Gillespie, patched, repaired and a little cleaned as well.
40:58I think she looks just perfect.
41:01Do you remember this bit here?
41:02Yes.
41:03Yes.
41:04The famous hole.
41:05The hole?
41:06Yes.
41:07So look, you can hardly see that now.
41:08No.
41:09It's not only this bit that's changed.
41:10The date, if you remember, the signature of the date over here, that was so hard to see.
41:13Yeah.
41:14And still is quite hard to see.
41:15It's not 1742, which is what you understand it.
41:18Yes.
41:19It actually says 1744.
41:21So you've got the signature of Philip Mercier and the date 1744.
41:27So we decided to engage the services of a much respected scholar in 18th and early 19th century British art.
41:34His name is Brian Allen and I have here the letter of his response.
41:43I'm pleased to confirm that, in my opinion, the charming portrait of a lady is indeed by Philip Mercier.
41:50Excellent.
41:51Correct.
41:52As it happens, I edited John Ingemel's manuscript catalogue of Mercier's work for publication.
42:00I am completely confident that the portrait owned by Mr. and Mrs. Williams is listed here as number 123.
42:09So there you are.
42:10It is.
42:11It is Philip Mercier.
42:12It is indeed.
42:13God bless it.
42:14So what do you think of your lovely young lady now?
42:17I think she looks great.
42:19I do.
42:20Yeah.
42:23So we now know it is a Mercier.
42:25Yes.
42:26We've now got the date.
42:27Yes.
42:28So the only question that remains...
42:29Who is she?
42:30Who is she?
42:31Well, we know that Philip Mercier was up in Yorkshire painting the landed gentry at the time.
42:35Your painting was done in the 1740s.
42:37And we know that he painted Sir Thomas Watson Wentworth.
42:41So we wondered, could this be one of Thomas' daughters?
42:43It couldn't be his oldest daughter, Anne.
42:45She was too old in 1744.
42:46Yes.
42:47Could it be the next daughter in line, Mary?
42:51If this is a portrait of Mary Watson Wentworth, how would it have ended up in Eastbourne?
42:58One possible explanation lies with one of Mary's descendants, who left Yorkshire in 1909 and moved to Dale Park, 50 miles from Eastbourne.
43:08After the stock market crash of 1929, the contents of the estate were sold off.
43:15Maybe that is when it got dispersed into Eastbourne and ended up, all these years later, in a local auction sale.
43:23Sounds highly likely, actually.
43:24Yeah.
43:25It's only a theory, but it's our most likely theory at the moment.
43:29Just remind us what date that auction was.
43:32It was, I think, about 1973.
43:35So quite a long time ago.
43:37And what did you pay for the painting then?
43:3850 pounds.
43:3950 pounds.
43:40Yes.
43:41King's run.
43:42Absolutely.
43:43Yeah.
43:44Well, that's a happy price to pay.
43:46Yes.
43:47Now, the valuation that I'm going to give you now is not a life change, I have to say.
43:52This is not what the market is particularly keen on at the moment.
43:56So I'm going to put a valuation of 5,000 pounds on it.
43:59Right.
44:00Yeah.
44:01But hang on.
44:02At least we've moved on from 50 pounds.
44:03Yes.
44:04That's true.
44:05Yeah.
44:06She can hang with pride in your sitting room.
44:08Yes.
44:09She will indeed.
44:10She will indeed.
44:11That's lovely.
44:13The first of the three pictures we chose has been accepted as a genuine work by Philip
44:20Mercier.
44:21But what about Lance Miller's picture, known as the Old General, and believed to be by
44:26German artist Adolf von Menzel?
44:28I've been trying to find out where Lance's grandfather, Eric Renkowitz, acquired the
44:34painting in 1947.
44:35And Lance thinks there might have been a connection to a museum in Cologne called the
44:39Dallaraf Richard's museum.
44:41From what I can see, the museum was so badly damaged during the war, very few records survive
44:46frustratingly.
44:48There are several records though that reveal more about Lance's grandfather.
44:52That he ran a factory which produced a product to deal with rust.
44:56He was succeeded by his wife, his English wife, Irene, as CEO in 1946.
45:02He was able to continue to run his factory during the war.
45:05He had stayed on the right side of the political system.
45:08He would have been subject to what was called the denazification process after the war.
45:13He would have had to give a statement of his conduct during those war years to the Allies.
45:18It can be fascinating if, in this case a little unsettling, when you start to dig down into
45:24the history of a picture.
45:25And sometimes you can find out more about a previous owner than the painting itself.
45:30With our research throwing up more questions than answers, back in Berlin, Bendor and owner
45:38Lance have arranged to meet Claude Keisch, one of the world's leading experts on the
45:42work of Adolf von Menzel.
45:44He's been studying photographs of the old general, and he's offered to share his initial
45:49impressions of the painting.
45:51Have you formed an opinion already, or not?
45:56Yes.
45:57It is too...
45:58It is very pathetic.
46:00It is, I think, quite exactly painted.
46:04I'm going to ask this with some trepidation, but in all your years of studying Menzel pictures,
46:16have you come across any fakes?
46:19Of course, very many, very, very many.
46:23There are also surprisingly many pictures that, in the first glance, don't look like Menzel
46:30names, but not from him.
46:40That's probably not the answer we were looking for.
46:43Not really, but...
46:44But you never know...
46:45But we have an answer for it.
46:46Well, I don't know, maybe the power of the painting when you see it in the flesh,
46:49because photographs don't always do everything.
46:51Yeah, yeah, of course.
46:52Would you look at the painting in the flesh for us?
46:54Yeah, yeah.
46:55That would be lovely.
46:57Yeah.
46:58Claude Keisch is reserving his final judgment, so our research continues.
47:02And we've made another fascinating discovery about Lance's grandfather, Eric Renkwitz, that
47:07we felt we should share.
47:10Our German researcher has located his denazification file, and it contains a sworn statement he made
47:17about his efforts to save a Jewish employee, Richard Schrenk, from the clutches of the Gestapo.
47:24Mr. Schrenk is the...
47:27He's a Jewish employee.
47:28Jewish employee of his factory.
47:30Exactly.
47:31During the war.
47:32Okay.
47:33Okay, this rings bells.
47:34Have you heard this name before?
47:35Yeah.
47:36Herr Schrenk was the foreman, close family friends of my grandfather.
47:41And I also have a translation here.
47:43Oh, great.
47:45There's a particularly pertinent line here that he's saying how he had to put his own
47:50neck on the line just to protect this employee of your family who happened to be Jewish.
47:55Your grandfather also says he had to give us a sort of guarantee his entire fortune for
48:01the flawless behavior of the whole Schrenk family.
48:04So your grandfather actually did, by the look of it, quite a serious amount on behalf of
48:11Mr. Schrenk and his family, and saved them from the Gestapo.
48:15Well, forgive me that I know we're here to chase the painting, but this is more meaningful
48:19to me.
48:20Really, it's about...
48:21Whoa.
48:22Sorry.
48:23Well, it does actually put it into perspective, doesn't it?
48:25Whoa, sorry.
48:26That's all right.
48:27These things, these things can come as a...
48:29Oh, that just hit me.
48:30I don't know where that came from.
48:32Oh.
48:36All his worldly goods.
48:38Yeah.
48:39To the protection of another man.
48:40Yeah.
48:41Isn't that amazing?
48:44It's quite extraordinary how the trail of a painting, a piece of canvas, can lead you
48:49back into your own family's history like that.
48:51This is remarkable because it shows about the man.
48:54This is real life to me.
48:56Whilst I love the painting, and we'll keep it for a very long time, this is a lot more
49:01meaningful to me, I have to say.
49:03I love it.
49:05Although our research has revealed much about Erich Renkwitz, the grandfather Lance never
49:10knew, we haven't turned up anything about the origins of the painting.
49:14And as we feared, there may be a simple explanation.
49:19After examining the old general in person, Claude Keisch has contacted us to say that his
49:24initial suspicions have been confirmed.
49:27And the painting is a very clever forgery, possibly created in the 1920s or 30s.
49:33The signature, he feels, is a particular giveaway.
49:36The top of the A is just not round enough to be Menzel's hand.
49:41Back in Philip's gallery, we've all gathered together to take stock of developments.
49:46I had high hopes for the general, but it looks as though he may have been deceiving us.
49:51I know the Menzel expert, Claude Keisch, felt that the characterisation wasn't quite right,
49:56that the picture was almost a bit too theatrical for Menzel.
49:59And as far as the provenance goes, we've hit a dead end.
50:01I mean, everything that could have helped us in terms of archives and attributions in catalogues,
50:05has all been destroyed during the Second World War.
50:08With that lack of documentation from that time period, it's always going to raise questions,
50:13I think, in an expert's minds, because it's the perfect smokescreen for a faker to pass the work off.
50:18So far, one painting has been turned down and one has been proved genuine,
50:23which leaves us with one last picture, portrait of a child attributed to Willem de Kooning.
50:30I have to say, I still have real high hopes for our little boy.
50:33The scientific testing that we were doing in Miami was looking really promising.
50:38Well, actually, we've just had the full results in,
50:40and I think you're going to like the look of this email.
50:42It's from Bruce Kaiser, the man who did the testing.
50:44So, Bruce has compared painting A, he says here,
50:49so painting A is the genuine certified de Kooning,
50:52to our painting, which he refers to as painting B.
50:55And he says, all matching colours from painting A, when compared to painting B, our painting,
51:00are literally, elementally identical.
51:03To be honest, I have done elemental analysis of many, many paintings,
51:06and I have never seen such a close pairing.
51:09I would guess the probability of this occurring randomly approaches the same probability of someone winning the lottery.
51:15That is one in umpteen million.
51:18I mean, this is just brilliant, isn't it?
51:20You don't get a scientist getting that far normally, do you?
51:23He then goes on, the exact same paint pigments and type were used to paint both paintings,
51:28and even the same features in each painting.
51:31I mean, what more do we need?
51:32I suppose you've got to ask, what are the chances of someone else painting it alongside it,
51:36perhaps using the same paint in exactly the same way?
51:39What he does say, at the end, slightly frustratingly, is whether it was the same artist
51:44is not provable directly by elemental analysis, for the reason that you're saying.
51:49But the chances of that are so slim, it has to be at de Kooning, doesn't it?
51:53What we really need to do now is get that provenance,
51:56you know, find out where that painting has been for the last hundred years.
51:59I mean, if we can do that, we could be so much closer to being able to produce an even stronger argument.
52:07With the fate of our last painting finally poised,
52:10we're travelling to Belgium in search of one final piece of evidence.
52:15We've arranged to meet Jan and Chris Starks in their hometown of Turnut, not far from Antwerp.
52:22They have news about the recent history of the portrait of a child,
52:26and we're eager to share the results of the scientific analysis with them.
52:31After our time in Miami, it's wonderful to be here in your apartment,
52:36surrounded by your objects and, of course, the picture itself.
52:40Now, you'll recall we have not got the sign-off of the authorities,
52:44the committee on de Kooning.
52:47But we have evidence which, and I speak as an art dealer, is so clear.
52:52In fact, why not say it? You have a work by de Kooning.
52:56It's amazing. You can't get better.
52:59I'm very proud of my husband.
53:02Yes, he did it so well.
53:04So what's it worth, Philip?
53:05Well, what we have the advantage of is that we know that the other painting that we compared it with, of Rene,
53:15went for about $50,000.
53:17I believe that your picture in many ways is superior.
53:23The artistic impact, the characterisation of the child, the condition is so good.
53:30And above all, you have carved into the wet paint the signature of the artist,
53:36this celebrated painter at the beginning of his career.
53:39I therefore think it's worth in excess of £50,000.
53:45And given that you paid, what, €450 for it, I could see it making anything up to €100,000.
53:56However...
53:57Yes.
53:58Where does it come from?
53:59Yes.
54:00Because unless we can say where it comes from, you've got a problem still.
54:05Yes.
54:06So what have you managed to find out about your painting and its past?
54:11After we went to Miami, we came back and I was contacted by the vendor.
54:18He told me that the person depicted on the painting died three years ago
54:24and left a lot of money and his belongings to his son.
54:29This man, he managed to lose all the money in a very short time and he became homeless.
54:37At some point, he was asked to clear his house because he didn't pay the rent.
54:45This is the place in Brussels?
54:46The place in Brussels.
54:47So he asked two friends to get rid of all his belongings and so to sell them.
54:56This is really important.
54:58So the man who owned the painting asked his friends to get rid of it for him?
55:03Yes.
55:05To sell all his belongings.
55:07That's what they're telling you?
55:08Yes, that's what they're telling us.
55:11Did they have any evidence?
55:12Did he write that down?
55:14No.
55:15A written instruction of any kind?
55:17No, I don't think so.
55:19Uncertainty around the provenance raises a much bigger issue.
55:23You know, the sad fact is, you may not own this picture.
55:27If the people who sold it to you did not have the right to sell it, you don't own it.
55:33One day or another, we will try to sell it.
55:37But we will start by exposing it.
55:40By exposing it? You mean exhibiting it?
55:42Hoping that this man will conform.
55:45Jan and Chris have been touched by the plight of the previous owner, but hope he may yet provide proof of his connection to the painting.
55:53It's a wonderful thought that, because even if there is confusion about the ownership, at least the painting that he painted of a child will again be out there and seen.
56:05And that makes us very proud.
56:14We started out with three mystery paintings.
56:17Three unknown artists, three unknown sitters.
56:19Now we've proved portrait of a lady is by Philip Mercier.
56:24And we found out the truth about the old general.
56:29But when it comes to the de Kooning, it's going to go on display here and turn out.
56:33And it might flush out the original owner.
56:36And if it does, if he comes forward, he could provide the final missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle.
56:42That's the poignant thing about portraits.
56:45It's not just about art.
56:47It's about people.
56:48And like people, their lives can get forgotten.
56:53What was once vibrant and relevant can become obscured by the passage of time.
56:59And it falls upon us, people like us, to bring them back to life.
57:06If you think you might have an undiscovered masterpiece or other precious object, contact us at bbc.co.uk slash fake or fortune.
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