The Best Episodes of Fake or Fortune?

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6.0/10(16 votes)
#1 - Corot
S12:E410/17/2024
The team examines The Head of the Lake, a landscape signed by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and purchased largely for its ornate frame. Historical exhibition labels, a period canvas-supplier stamp and technical analysis appear promising, but the investigation must also confront repeated earlier rejections and evidence recorded by one of Corot’s contemporaries.
Director:Sara Moralioglu
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Sara Moralioglu
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(42 votes)
#2 - Monet
S1:E16/19/2011
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate Bords de la Seine à Argenteuil, a riverside landscape believed by its owner to be an unrecognised work by Claude Monet. Scientific examination and provenance research build a compelling case, but the painting must still win acceptance from the authority responsible for Monet’s catalogue.
Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(37 votes)
#3 - Homer
S1:E26/26/2011
A watercolour discovered beside a rubbish tip is identified as Children Under a Palm Tree, a lost work by American artist Winslow Homer. As the picture heads toward auction with a substantial valuation, the investigation shifts from attribution to provenance and the difficult question of who legally owns it.
Directors:Alex Parkinson, Nicola Lafferty
Writer:Unknown
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Directors:Alex Parkinson, Nicola Lafferty
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(31 votes)
#4 - Van Meegeren
S1:E37/3/2011
The team investigates The Procuress, a controversial painting at the Courtauld Institute associated with master forger Han van Meegeren. Technical analysis explores whether it was one of his final works and reveals how he deceived collectors and experts with paintings presented as newly discovered Old Masters.
Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(27 votes)
#5 - Rembrandt
S1:E47/10/2011
Philip and researcher Bendor Grosvenor spot a poorly catalogued painting in a South African auction, apparently connected to Rembrandt. Their investigation uncovers a darker history involving Nazi looting, a Jewish art-dealing family and a work once regarded as a German national treasure. Scientific examination then seeks to establish the painting’s true authorship.
Director:Ben Southwell
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Ben Southwell
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(32 votes)
#6 - Degas and the Little Dancer
S2:E19/16/2012
Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate Danseuse Bleue et Contrebasses, a small painting believed to be by Edgar Degas. Although its history appears to lead back to the artist’s studio, the work is absent from the accepted catalogue of Degas paintings. Provenance research and scientific testing are used to determine whether the owner possesses a modest imitation or a valuable lost work.
Director:Robert Murphy
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Robert Murphy
Writer:Unknown

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0.0/10(28 votes)
#7 - Turner: A Miscarriage of Justice?
S2:E29/23/2012
The team reopens the case of three landscapes—The Beacon Light, Off Margate and Margate Jetty—bequeathed to the National Museum of Wales as works by J. M. W. Turner. Dismissed as fakes during the 1950s, the paintings are subjected to fresh archival and technical investigation to establish whether a long-standing judgment deprived them of their true identity.
Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(31 votes)
#8 - Van Dyck: What Lies Beneath
S2:E39/30/2012
Philip Mould places one of his own discoveries under investigation: a heavily altered portrait that he believes conceals an unfinished work by Sir Anthony van Dyck. Restoration requires the irreversible removal of later additions, while Fiona insists upon independent authentication. As the underlying image emerges, both Philip’s judgment and the painting’s potential importance are put to the test.
Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(35 votes)
#9 - Vuillard
S3:E11/19/2014
Writer Keith Tutt asks the team to investigate a painting he bought speculatively as a possible work by French post-impressionist Édouard Vuillard. Archival research uncovers a strong documentary trail, while the discovery of a companion picture helps reconstruct the work’s history and gives the owners a chance to secure formal recognition.
Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(35 votes)
#10 - Constable
S3:E21/26/2014
Two marine landscapes attributed to John Constable are examined. One, Yarmouth Jetty, has been heavily altered by later overpainting, while the other, A Sea Beach, Brighton, was once owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston before being deaccessioned. The investigation asks whether technical evidence can recover the identity of works obscured by restoration and changing expert opinion.
Director:Robert Murphy
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Robert Murphy
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(26 votes)
#11 - Chagall
S3:E32/2/2014
A Leeds property developer believes that Nude, 1909–10 may be an unknown work by Marc Chagall. Fiona and Philip trace its provenance and submit it to scientific testing, but the discovery of pigments unavailable at the claimed date raises the possibility of a sophisticated modern forgery. The case ultimately reaches the committee responsible for authenticating Chagall’s work.
Director:Robert Murphy
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Robert Murphy
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(35 votes)
#12 - Gainsborough
S3:E42/9/2014
The team selects two publicly owned paintings from the BBC’s Your Paintings project for investigation: Imaginary Landscape and a portrait of Joseph Gape. Research, conservation evidence and specialist analysis are used to determine whether both neglected works can be connected to Thomas Gainsborough and restored to his accepted body of work.
Director:Ben Southwell
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Ben Southwell
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(66 votes)
#13 - Lowry
S4:E17/5/2015
The team investigates three paintings—Lady with Dogs, Darby and Joan and Crowd Scene—that were bought by Cheshire businessman Gerald Ames during the 1970s and attributed to L. S. Lowry. With no straightforward documentary history, Fiona and Philip use pigment analysis, archival film and comparisons with accepted works to determine whether the pictures are genuine or the products of one of Britain’s most frequently forged artists.
Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(24 votes)
#14 - Renoir
S4:E27/12/2015
Artist Nicky Philipps asks the team to examine Boats on the Seine at Argenteuil, an unsigned painting held at her family’s former home, Picton Castle. Conflicting catalogues disagree over whether it is an authentic Pierre-Auguste Renoir, sending the investigation through gallery records, provenance research and scientific analysis in search of evidence capable of resolving the dispute.
Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(43 votes)
#15 - A Mystery Old Master
S4:E37/19/2015
A monumental depiction of the Lamentation of Christ hangs largely overlooked in St John the Baptist Church in Tunstall, Lancashire. The team travels through Britain and Italy to identify its artist, reconstruct how it reached the church and determine whether the neglected painting is an important surviving work from the Venetian Renaissance.
Director:Francis Welch
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Francis Welch
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(35 votes)
#16 - Munnings and Churchill
S4:E47/26/2015
Charles Henty asks Fiona and Philip to investigate two paintings discovered in a coal cellar: a winter landscape attributed to Alfred Munnings and a view of a French fountain believed to be by Winston Churchill. Provenance research, eyewitness testimony and specialist examination are used to decide whether either family picture can be accepted as the work of its celebrated supposed artist.
Director:Simon Mansfield
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Simon Mansfield
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(30 votes)
#17 - Freud
S5:E17/17/2016
The team investigates a portrait believed to be an early work by Lucian Freud, despite the artist having denied painting it during his lifetime. Research leads back to Freud’s teenage years at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, while technical analysis examines whether he may have worked over an abandoned canvas begun by someone else.
Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(32 votes)
#18 - Delaroche
S5:E27/24/2016
A painting bought for £500 is investigated as the possible lost royal commission Saint Amelia, Queen of Hungary by Paul Delaroche. Fiona and Philip trace it from the exiled French royal family to Britain and use archival and scientific evidence to distinguish the original work from the many contemporary copies made after it.
Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(29 votes)
#19 - Rodin
S5:E37/31/2016
A family-owned watercolour is said to belong to Auguste Rodin’s celebrated series of Cambodian dancers. With little documented provenance and the shadow of prolific Rodin forger Ernest Durig hanging over the work, the team studies its materials, signature and fluid painting technique in search of a reliable attribution.
Director:Francis Welch
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Francis Welch
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(28 votes)
#20 - Portraits
S5:E48/21/2016
Three unrelated portraits are investigated as possible works by Philip Mercier, Adolph von Menzel and Willem de Kooning. The cases produce sharply different outcomes, ranging from a neglected bargain to a convincing forgery and a promising attribution complicated by unresolved ownership history.
Director:Robert Murphy
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Robert Murphy
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(31 votes)
#21 - Constable
S6:E18/20/2017
The team investigates a painting of Willy Lott’s Cottage that Philip Mould had previously bought and sold twice without securing its acceptance as a work by John Constable. A detailed chain of ownership, stylistic examination and comparison with Constable’s established work may finally determine whether the overlooked landscape is an alternative view related to The Hay Wain.
Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(31 votes)
#22 - Tom Roberts
S6:E29/3/2017
Fiona and Philip travel to Australia to investigate Rejected, a painting bought online for £7,500 and signed by Australian Impressionist Tom Roberts. Infrared examination reveals inscriptions on the reverse, while Roberts’s surviving sketchbooks and London addresses provide evidence that could connect the picture to his years at the Royal Academy.
Director:Francis Welch
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Francis Welch
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(27 votes)
#23 - Gauguin
S6:E39/10/2017
Two possible works by Paul Gauguin receive very different investigations. A pencil study resembling a figure from When Will You Marry? is traced through Gauguin’s sketchbook and former owners, while a still life previously sold as genuine is scrutinized for questionable signatures, provenance and style.
Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(37 votes)
#24 - Nicholson
S7:E18/12/2018
A still life bought for £165,000 as a work by William Nicholson was later excluded from the latest catalogue raisonné. Fiona and Philip assemble provenance records, handwriting evidence, infrared imaging and pigment comparisons in an attempt to prove that the painting is genuine, despite resistance from the leading Nicholson authority.
Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Nicky Illis
Writer:Unknown
0.0/10(38 votes)
#25 - Toulouse-Lautrec
S7:E28/19/2018
Two sketchbooks preserved for decades in a French garden shed may contain youthful drawings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The team travels to the artist’s family home and uses handwriting, paper and technical analysis to challenge an earlier rejection by the authentication committee.
Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Rachel Jardine
Writer:Unknown