From £15 Bargain To £100,000 Treasure: Unbelievable Painting Valuations | BBC Antiques Roadshow

I'm going to say this is a genuine waterhouse. Oh! So you should probably insure it for a hundred thousand pounds. Wow. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much indeed. Now, you just haven't bought one painting, you've bought a number of paintings for the show, but I think we must look at this first. It's by Emil Carlsson, who was a Danish origin who came to America. Now, can you tell me something about the origin of this painting? I can't tell you anything more than I inherited all three, all three of them from my aunt and uncle. I think they bought all three when they were living just outside of New York City. Yes. Well, what I like about this painting in particular, I think it's almost like a kind of a holiday. I mean, it seems so tranquil and so sunny, whereas quite often you see the fishing fleet, which is battling against some starved drama all around the British coast. And this, of course, has a kind of quite a different atmosphere. Also, I think that the space of the picture and that particular kind of palette does have some reference to kind of Danish origins. Now, the signature we can see down here, Emil Carlsson. Now, value-wise, we're talking about something like six or ten thousand pounds for this. Now, let's come on to the other pictures here and to this. This is by Antoni Tini. That's right. And do you know anything about him? Again, nothing, really. I just know that he was an American, I'm fairly sure. And his signature was that he would always have a big dramatic splash of red. Yes. Because my mother has two other pictures. And this is painted in the 20th century. He was born just before the turn of the century. Do you know where he lived and worked? Rockport, Massachusetts. And I think this kind of subject or similar subjects were the things which he reproduced in quite some number. Again, it's quite interesting just having been to look at the Carlsson, looking at the way it's painted. This is much more broadly painted and it seems to be actually in much more secure condition as well. And the value for this, I think, probably something in the region of, again, the same, some six to ten thousand pounds. Now, we come to this painting, which is kind of looking right back. This is quite clearly 19th century in character. But it's by a family, Madrazza. This is by Raumondo and there are a whole number of members of the family. And it's rather curious here because the signature here, it's not very clearly an R. But I think I've been able to decipher it correctly that it in fact is Raumondo. Now, it's a splendid, quite showy painting, isn't it? And the girl, somewhat coquettish. It's not quite... It's a fantastically flashy style of painting, isn't it? The contrast here with this jacket, which I don't know whether it really was purple, but was probably purply black of some kind. And I think the wonderful painting on the back of the neck, just pushed in the paint with the brush strokes. And then, of course, the contrast with the flesh tones and then the flowers in the hair. It's absolutely wonderful. And I think what is also clever is the finish of the head is contrasted with this very, very flat, clear background. So it's almost silhouetted against the background. It's in its original frame, somewhat damaged here, but it's worth looking after these things because they are the devil to restore if they do start to disintegrate. And I would have thought probably that's worth £15,000 and possibly ought to be insured for £20,000. You have surprised me. Are you smokers in your family? My parents were, and they've hung on their walls for 55 years. My goodness, that's quite a long time, isn't it? Because they are incredibly... They're covered in sort of grime and nicotine and smoke and everything else, aren't they? But that's not a worry. In fact, in a way, that sort of preserved them. And what we should really do at some point is probably take them to a professional restorer and get them cleaned because I think you'll suddenly see how wonderful these pictures are and how bright the colours are. The first two are here, a pair of English landscapes. And I've been looking and looking and looking. I can't find a signature on them at all. I think that they're certainly English. They are certainly mid to late 19th century. And I feel they're possibly by the Williams family. And they're probably just these two alone, even without a name, are worth £1,500, possibly even £2,000. But this is the picture which I really like. And this is by a Belgium artist called Charles Joseph Griep. And I couldn't read the date, but it's probably late 19th century. But these pictures are well known for all the detail. Look at the fruit, look at the flowers. And this is a Belgium artist really looking back at the 17th century. So we've got a sort of big connection with the golden age of Dutch and Flemish painting. Now, have you had this valued? By a local auction, yes. Can you tell me what he said? £500. £500 only. Insurance value. Well, I think he's mad. I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't say that. But I think they are... This sort of picture is so commercial. And when it's cleaned, you will see all its potential. I think he missed out a nought. I think it's £5,000. It's such a great picture. And it's got everything that a buyer would want. Thank you very much. Well, it's wonderful to be here in the Victoria and Albert Museum. But I never expected that we'd actually get brought in a museum quality picture. But that's what you've brought in. It is fantastic quality. It really is. Just look at the way he has handled the whole light in this market scene. The way the light comes off the candle and illuminates her face. It's the most brilliant piece of work. And you've got the source of light here. Then you've got another candle light here. And tremendously subtle lighting in... Look at the reflections on this copper jar. It's wonderfully handled. And the way this boy and this young man are conversing. He's looking at him, but he's looking across at her. Wonderful little narrative details in this overall scene. Has it been in your family for some time? It was in my husband's family. I think his father bought it many years ago. Was there any particular significance to the subject, do you think, for your father-in-law when he bought it? Well, he worked in the fish market as a young boy. He did, yeah. And his father was in the fish market before him. So I imagine that because it's a market scene, that's what appealed to him. But I don't know, really. But also the fact that it's on the quayside. Yes. There probably is fish being sold somewhere in the distance. I would guess so. And the sort of moonlit night-time markets would have been something that he would have remembered. He had a good eye for paintings. He certainly did. And I think I had a good eye, because when they split the house up when the parents-in-law died, this was the one thing that I really loved. It's a very good choice you made, a very good choice. I mean, there's so much more when you get into it. There's this wonderful moonlight at the top of the picture. Again, sort of illuminating the silhouettes of the buildings and the rigging of the ships behind. Oh, they're rigging. This rigging of sailing vessels. Yes, of course. Incredibly beautifully handled, very subtle. And then, to reveal all down at the bottom, is the signature here. Yes. P Van Schendel. Petrus Van Schendel, a Dutch painter, but he worked in Belgium and Holland. And he absolutely specialised in these moonlit, candlelit scenes. It was his trademark, if you like. It was what he was absolutely brilliant at. And he was working in the middle of the 19th century, between about 1830 and 1870, when he was really in his prime, painted in oil on this very nice bit of wood. Well, just quality is the word for it. It is by probably the leading candlelight painter of the 19th century. But I didn't know. I did see some of Van Schendel's paintings in New York. Yes. Two, three years ago. Yeah. Perhaps five years ago. Yeah, no, well, his work does come up quite regularly at auction. So we know reasonably clearly what this probably would make. I think at auction now, he's very much in vogue. He's very much sought after. A lot of people collect him. Probably make between 70 and 90,000 pounds. So you should probably insure it for 100,000 pounds. Wow, thank you. Almost like winning the lottery. Almost. 100,000 pounds for insurance. My husband bought it in an antique shop in Stockport. It wasn't actually in the shop itself. He went there to buy another picture, which had gone. And the gentleman there said, I've got a portrait at home. And he took us there to see it. My husband fell in love with it. Well, I'm not surprised. I mean, I've completely fallen in love with her in the short time that I've been able to look at it. And I think you're aware that it's by John Graham Gilbert. Yes, yes. Scottish artist. And fortuitously for me, it's got its title. And it's signed on the back, along with the year he painted it. Now, the title is A Border Girl. So she's obviously a Scots girl, Scottish girl. And it was painted in 1858. Now, Gilbert was unusual amongst Scottish artists in that he went to Rome. He'd spent a lot of time in Italy. The interest for us that that holds is that this very Scottish subject, to me, has an Italian influence. OK, she's a Scottish girl. But I think that there's something very Italian about her, not only her features, but also this deep red of the clothes that she's wearing. But above all, it's the way he's painted those eyes. I think they're quite lovely, aren't they? Quite haunting. And his ability with textures is very apparent, like the bonnet she's wearing. He's caught it wonderfully. The light on the side of the bonnet there. And the glow in her cheeks, which match with her lips, the colour of the cloak that she's wearing. The whole thing's most alluring. It's a lovely thing. Did you pay a lot for it? £100. But it was in early 70s. Early 70s. The fact that it's in such good condition and the fact that it has such allure and power mean that I really have to value it at between £8,000 and £12,000. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much indeed. When I come to a roadshow, I think it's particularly dangerous to try and anticipate what one might find. And I suppose coming to Oldham and this particular part of the country, one must think, well, possibly a work by Ellis Lowry might turn up. But I must say, when this popped out, I mean, I couldn't have been more surprised and delighted. Because as far as I'm concerned, it's absolutely right. Having said that, of course, we must go to the museum, the Lowry Museum, and have it checked out. But all my instincts and the way that it looks makes me feel it's absolutely spot on and beautiful. What's the story? I brought it in for a friend of mine, an elderly gentleman, about 79 years of age. They did belong to his wife, who's passed away. She used to chauffeur Lowry. He was very fond of having people chauffeuring about all over the country. And this is how they came into his possession. To all intents and purposes, Lowry's style, these industrial buildings, the figures, the busy streets, are all rather similar. But I think from this particular period, and if I haven't been mistaken, the date is 1937, a good early period, I just love the colour and the busyness of the street. And for my own taste, it is not too melancholic. It's not too brooding. It has a busyness and kind of optimistic air, which sometimes is not always apparent in his paintings. Thick paint. We call it impasto. You can see here that it's drawn right through the thickness of paint across these bits here. I particularly love that passage here. These figures in the distance are pushed in and just touch with colour. And also one of the things about it is one can judge it quite carefully because when they haven't been protected by glass, they get full of grime and dirt. This has got glass on it and it's kept the dirt off it. You can see right the way through and just a little bit of a gentle clean will bring it up into an absolute gem. Now, before we turn to values, let's also look at these other things. Tell me about this little drawing here. This is a cigarette packet. Right. And you can see that because here are the folds of it here, going across there. Yes. When this lady was chauffeuring Lowry, he was sat in the car and he started to sketch this. And then when he finished, he was about to throw it through the window and she said, don't do that. And he said, well, I'll sign it for you if you want it. It might be of some value someday. Really, what a lovely story. Yeah. So do you think he really was going to throw it out the window? Yeah. He didn't realise his value of his paintings then. No, no, no. And we've got a photograph here of the great man himself. And what is so interesting is that, of course, if you could just hold that a second, of course, it shows the subject. This is a painting and this is a drawing for this painting, but it's the same subject, which is a ferry, isn't it? Scotland, isn't it? The Scottish subject. Yes. And again, this is the later date, September 1958. Now, of course, what we must do is kind of try and work out the value. Now, my word of caution is the attributions must be confirmed by the Lowry Museum. But these little bits and pieces, the cigarette packet, I don't know whether it's worth a thousand or more, but it could well be. This drawing, number of thousand pounds. But I think what we're really all dying to kind of really try and know is, what's this worth? Does your friend have any idea of what he thinks it's worth? No, no. He's probably, he's a shy man, is he? Oh, yes. Very shy. Well, I think it's probably worth a hundred thousand pounds. Oh, gosh. Oh. It now becomes a horrible problem, doesn't it? Oh, yes. If I was being conservative, I suppose 60 to 80, but I think it is so fresh, so wonderful, has not been on the market. The prices have been quite extraordinary and I wouldn't, I wouldn't be surprised if it could fetch a hundred thousand pounds or more. It's never been off the wall. What a striking picture. First of all, the subject and also the frame is very elaborate. What can you tell me about this picture? Well, not a great deal. I bought it about 30 years ago and I had a nursing home with a huge hall and it was very dark and all we could see was the goat, nothing behind it. My mother kept saying to me, for goodness sake, throw that old picture away. And I said, no, one of these days I'll have it restored. So just about when we were getting married, I had the picture restored. Right. And it's 27 years ago. Gosh. And it's kept its colour. It really has, really has. Can I ask how much it cost to restore the frame? Quite a bit of money, something like 200 pounds. 200 pounds. And the restoration? I think it was 500, which is a lot of money. But behind, I mean, we could never see this wonderful view with the shepherd. Exactly, exactly. We just thought it was a goat. Well, I think there's quite a lot of things to be said here. I mean, first of all, was it your mother's advice was not very good to throw the picture away? Because that's crazy. And also, tastes change. And I've been looking at this picture now for a few minutes and I have to say it is incredibly striking, isn't it? I'm pretty sure it's by an artist called Rousse, P.P. Rousse, who was also called Rosa de Tivoli. Yes. He has this rather dark palette and a typical way of painting. And actually, once you get to see Rousse's work, it sticks in the mind, you recognise it. So it's fairly, when you see it, you think, oh, that's by Rousse or Rosa de Tivoli. Now, as I said, fashion's changed. And I have to say, in the last 25 years, I think his work has become less fashionable. People don't really want dark colours. And also, sheep and goats, not everyone's cup of tea. And, you know, we're all much more sort of into minimalist, aren't we? And sort of bright, strong colours. Gosh, the frame is bright, isn't it? And that, I have to say, is not contemporary with the picture. And I think slight detracts from the picture. Yeah, well, I'd hope that it would mellow down. Mellow down, yes, yes. But I'm afraid it's just a good old plaster mould frame with a wood base. But nonetheless, you know, it's a very handsome piece, the combination of the picture. I wouldn't like to meet this goat on a dark night, would you really? No, indeed. I mean, it looks like he means trouble. Yeah, he's got a very wicked eye. He has got a wicked eye, hasn't he? Well, I guess something like this, if it came up for auction, between £6,000 and £10,000, that sort of price. Thank you very much for showing it to me anyway. The whip has always been there. Where's it been then, this much-loved picture? I think it was in an old barn or a farm building for about 30 years. And then my father, he bought it about 20 years ago. I think it was a house sale for a few pounds. It wasn't expensive. What did he think about it? He liked it, but we didn't know how to get it restored, so it just got left. I've always assumed it was Waterhouse. Do you know about Waterhouse? I've seen an antiques roadshow before, and there was a painting on there by the same artist, and that's why I bought this today. Right, but this is so untypical, this picture. But first of all, we say, well, it's not really a Waterhouse. But it is signed JWW down here. And if I think about Waterhouse when he started painting, he was sort of experimenting. He wasn't really very well-trained when he started painting. He painted little interiors and this sort of thing. And I personally think this is by Waterhouse, John William Waterhouse, because I think it's the young man coming into being a better painter and before he's really decided the subjects he really wants to do, which is his affinity to the Pirate Lights and Pretty Girls. So on balance, I'm going to say this is a genuine Waterhouse. And then we have to say, well, since you've looked after it so beautifully... No, I'm not a brave boy. Since you've looked after it so beautifully, what's it worth? It's in rotten condition, but this can be put right, although I think that that will be difficult to clean. This I'm not worrying about, but the dirt is quite ingrained into that impasto there. I think between five and ten thousand pounds, five or six thousand pounds. I am shocked, I am. I thought about 500 pounds, I was so worried about the rip. Well, it's pretty nasty. That is horrid, you know, and that needs a lot of work doing, and so does this. But I don't see why, you know, finished and all done up, somebody might ask 20,000 pounds for it or something. So it's worth for me to take it and have it restored. I think so, yes. I bought it just in the market in Portobello, in London. On Borough Road. How long ago? 20 years ago. Was it in a shop or on a barrow? On a barrow. It was on a barrow? On a barrow. And I was looking through the pictures with the name and all odds and sods, and I saw another picture that I was interested, and I bought the two together. Job not. I wasn't really interested in the picture, just because he wanted so much for the other picture. It sounds if you like the other one better. Yes. Well, I can tell you a bit about Harold Harvey. He's a Cornish artist from Cornwall, and he belonged to something called the Newlyn School of Painters, founded by an artist called Stanhope Forbes in the 1890s. And they painted in and around Newlyn, which is near Penzance. And so this is almost certainly the landscape of Cornwall we're looking at here. We're looking at a Cornish moor. And most of the Newlyn painters had trained in France, and so they used a strong impressionistic sort of style, heavy brushwork. And they concentrated really on scenes of country life. I think they were attracted to Cornwall at that time because it was very unspoiled, very beautiful countryside, and of course the quality of light they liked as well. Now, we found something interesting on the back of this picture, and that was this number here, this black stenciling. That's numbers used by Christie's, the auction house, to number each picture that comes in. And so by checking with Christie's, which we've already done, they said that it was part of a consignment of pictures that was sent in in 1961. And some of them were sold, but not this one. This was rejected as of too little value and sent to another auction house for sale. So it was considered not valuable enough to be sold by Christie's in 1961. Can you tell me how much you paid for the picture, or for both pictures it was? I paid 15 pounds 20 years ago for the two pictures. 15 pounds? Yes. Interest in the Newlyn school is very considerable nowadays. All the Newlyn painters are avidly collected, and Harold Harvey in particular is a well-known Newlyn school painter today. And therefore, I think if you were to sell this picture now, or put it in a sale now, you'd be looking at eight to ten thousand pounds. Oh, God. So well done to find that one on a Portobello barrel. I'm very surprised, because I don't know if you know Portobello? Yes, of course I do. So there's quite a lot of antique shops around there, and how they've passed through the nets. Well, you see, in 1961 it was possible, because interest in the Newlyn school hadn't really begun at that time. And pictures of this date, you see, 1914, in the 60s were valued very little. And so it really made an extraordinarily lucky buy. My wife wanted out of the living room, because you have it in the living room, she wanted out. She said, I want to decorate the room, I want all this rubbish out. I better tell her.