Fake or Fortune? - Season 12

First aired: 9/26/2024 4 episodes

The team investigates a flower painting attributed to Mondrian, a rediscovered work by Canadian Impressionist Helen McNicoll, music-related memorabilia and a disputed Corot. The McNicoll case provides a particularly significant recovery of an overlooked artist’s work.

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Episodes

1. Mondrian

Aired: 9/26/2024

American artist Jeffrey Kroll asks the team to investigate a small flower painting inherited from his father and signed “P. Mondrian.” Provenance research, handwriting analysis and scientific testing are used to determine whether the picture is an early figurative work by Piet Mondrian or an ingenious later imitation.

2. Helen McNicoll

Aired: 10/3/2024

Art dealer David Taylor bought a painting of women working in a field for £2,090, suspecting that it might be by Canadian Impressionist Helen McNicoll. With almost all identifying labels removed, Fiona and Philip trace its exhibition history across Britain and Canada in an effort to reconnect the neglected work with its original title and artist.

3. Music Memorabilia

Aired: 10/10/2024

The programme ventures beyond fine art to investigate two pieces of rock memorabilia: a silver guitar said to have belonged to Ronnie Wood and a piano linked to John Lennon. Manufacturing records, photographs, witness testimony and instrument specialists are used to determine whether either object can be securely connected to the musicians.

4. Corot

Aired: 10/17/2024

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.