0:00:02 > 0:00:05'Britain's major galleries house some of the finest collections
0:00:05 > 0:00:07'of art to be found anywhere in the world.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14'But there are thousands of other artworks we know little about,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18'in the collections of smaller institutions, government offices,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20'local museums and country houses.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25'Many of them unrecorded and unknown.
0:00:29 > 0:00:35'But over 80% of this treasure trove remains locked away in storage.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38'Lost in this limbo, even works by the biggest names in art
0:00:38 > 0:00:40'can fall into obscurity.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46'The Art UK website was created to shine a light into these shadows,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50'and now has over 200,000 paintings online.'
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Using this database, we'll be travelling the country,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56seeking out potential lost masterpieces
0:00:56 > 0:01:01lying unrecognised and unregarded in dusty corridors and storerooms.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04When we find a promising painting we'll attempt to uncover its hidden
0:01:04 > 0:01:08history and true brilliance through a meticulous process of restoration,
0:01:08 > 0:01:10research and scientific analysis.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13We'll also investigate the stories of how these works made their way
0:01:13 > 0:01:15into our public collections and what they tell us
0:01:15 > 0:01:19about where we come from and who we are.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22But finding a painting is just the beginning of the trail.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33# Mae hen wlad fy nhadau
0:01:33 > 0:01:37# Yn annwyl i mi... #
0:01:38 > 0:01:42'Swansea was once a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45'when its smelting works earned it the nickname Copperopolis.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51'At one point in the 19th century, 90% of the world's copper ore
0:01:51 > 0:01:54'was brought here to be processed.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57'And the remnants of this heritage are visible everywhere in the city.'
0:01:57 > 0:01:59# Dros rhyddid collasant... #
0:01:59 > 0:02:02'Today, this former rolling mill in Swansea Harbour
0:02:02 > 0:02:05'serves as the storeroom of the Swansea Museum.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10'And what a storeroom.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21'The museum began life in 1841 as the Royal Institute of South Wales.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25'It's been accumulating items of local interest ever since.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40'Garethe El Tawab is the current custodian of this fascinating collection
0:02:40 > 0:02:42'of flotsam and jetsam.'
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Wow, this is the most bonkers museum store I think I've ever seen,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49- anywhere in the world.- Well, I think we've got a bit of...
0:02:49 > 0:02:52Well, definitely something for everyone.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57The collections go back to the 1830s, so we're the oldest museum in Wales.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01They come from private donations and things that have been bought
0:03:01 > 0:03:02for the collections over the years.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04So, yes, a bit of everything.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11'Bendor is champing at the bit to explore the museum's picture store.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17'But to try and make sense of this colossal cornucopia of clutter,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20'I opt for a guided tour with Garethe.'
0:03:20 > 0:03:24Tell me a bit more about how all of these weird and wonderful objects
0:03:24 > 0:03:26came together in one collection.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28That's what's unusual, I think, isn't it?
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Well, the sort of early collections were sort of
0:03:30 > 0:03:33objects from all over the world that were just collected by private
0:03:33 > 0:03:36individuals and donated to the Royal Institute of South Wales,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38so became part of their collection.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41And then, I suppose, collections policies came in
0:03:41 > 0:03:44and since it's been in the ownership of the City and County of Swansea.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48But we also collect a lot of social history to do with people's lives today.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51So are you constantly on the lookout for things that might...
0:03:51 > 0:03:52- Yes.- ..build the collection?
0:03:52 > 0:03:54We get contacted by colleagues in other departments
0:03:54 > 0:03:57within the Council. "Oh, we're just demolishing this,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00"would you like to come and take these things out before it hits the ground?"
0:04:00 > 0:04:03It is truly the most eclectic collection I've ever seen.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Yes, and obviously things like this we wouldn't collect today.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08No, I imagine not.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11That came in Victorian times into the collection.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15It's a bit sad now because they were on open display for years,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18people stroked them, and they've gone bald, basically.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22'I'm really staggered by the sheer amount of local ephemera
0:04:22 > 0:04:23'on the shelves.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28'Aladdin's Cave had nothing on this place.'
0:04:28 > 0:04:29Putting you through...
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Swansea is probably best known today as the place that issues our driving licences.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42But back in its industrial heyday it was a booming town
0:04:42 > 0:04:45whose wealth came directly out of the ground.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53'Swansea became Copperopolis because of a simple equation.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57'It takes four tonnes of coal to smelt one tonne of copper.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02'So it was more efficient to bring the copper ore to the Swansea coalfields.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05'Initially the ore came from Cornwall,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07'but eventually from all over the world.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13'The practice of covering a ship's hull in copper - copper bottoming -
0:05:13 > 0:05:14'was developed in Swansea.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17'It increased the vessel's manoeuvrability,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21'which Nelson claimed contributed to his victory at Trafalgar.'
0:05:22 > 0:05:26The Victorian industrialists who founded the Royal Institute
0:05:26 > 0:05:30were fired by a civic pride in their rapidly expanding town.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34They were avid collectors of curiosities from across the globe,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36things like these wonderful Roman mosaics
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and this dervish sword from the deserts of East Africa.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47'But, today, everything means something to someone,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50'and it's a challenge to decide what to keep and what to display.'
0:05:53 > 0:05:57That wasn't something that greatly troubled the founders of the Royal Institution,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00like Major George Grant Francis here.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04They had a sense of certainty in what people should find in a museum.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08And in 1841 they opened their doors to the public with something
0:06:08 > 0:06:10which had never taken place in Wales before -
0:06:10 > 0:06:12an exhibition of fine art.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21'The pictures in the Swansea stores today are, I'm sure,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24'all of some value as historical artefacts.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27'But there are not many you might describe as fine art.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34'There is, however, one I found on the Art UK website that might just
0:06:34 > 0:06:36'fall into that category.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39'It's not that one.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48'And it's definitely not that one.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56'Ah, this is what we're looking for.'
0:06:58 > 0:07:00When I saw a photograph of this picture online,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04it was described simply as a picture by an unknown artist.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07But I thought it reminded me of the work of one of the giants
0:07:07 > 0:07:10of 17th-century Flemish painting, Jacob Jordaens.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14He was a pupil of Rubens and went on to dominate painting in Antwerp
0:07:14 > 0:07:16in the mid-17th century.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18I have to say, looking at the painting now,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21in the flesh for the first time,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23I think, blimey, what was I thinking?
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Because it's difficult not to be distracted by the sheer state of it.
0:07:26 > 0:07:32It's on...one, two, three, four, five disjointed planks of wood.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34And there are some truly awful bits of painting.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39I mean, this dog here looks like it's been stuck on in a paper cutout
0:07:39 > 0:07:43and painted in the most extraordinary sort of pinky-brown.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48There's a horse up here which has been sort of trimmed in pink.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51It looks like something out of My Little Pony.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Hardly the work of a great master,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57but if you spend some time with the picture and look more closely at it
0:07:57 > 0:08:02then signs of artistic genius, I think, begin to emerge.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04Although this dog is terrible,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06the one next to it is absolutely marvellous.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11These two dogs here are painted very quickly and very confidently.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15They're looking up at their master, I presume, with that sort of
0:08:15 > 0:08:17sense of loyal patience that you get in a dog.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22I think there are some extraordinary passages of painting in here.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23It feels to me that
0:08:23 > 0:08:26there is a great painting fighting to come out.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34'We carry the panel into the central space to get a clearer view of it
0:08:34 > 0:08:36'and I start to feel a little more optimistic,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39'despite its dilapidated condition.'
0:08:39 > 0:08:41- On the chair?- Yeah.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44'We found an old bus seat to serve as an easel.'
0:08:46 > 0:08:49So the subject is Atalanta and Meleager,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52but my classical mythology is rubbish,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54do you know what's going on in this?
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Well, a little. They've just been involved in a hunt to kill
0:08:57 > 0:09:00this wild boar that's been ravaging the countryside.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03- Hence the hunting dogs, I guess. - Hence the hunting dogs.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07But actually, it's the woman, it's Atalanta who first...
0:09:08 > 0:09:09..gives him a mortal wound.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12And then Meleager comes in and finishes him off.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14A lot of the men get very, very annoyed
0:09:14 > 0:09:16that a woman was involved in the hunt in the first place,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20and that then she is being presented with the prize of the boar.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22I think what happens next is that Meleager, to sort of defend
0:09:22 > 0:09:26his lover, Atalanta, starts attacking people.
0:09:26 > 0:09:27He kills four or five people.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29This is Greek sexism in action.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30It certainly is, in a big way.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36I probably have chosen the most damaged picture in here to show you.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38- Yes.- Not a picture in great condition, this.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40And I think what's really interesting about it is
0:09:40 > 0:09:44there's so many... Do you see these really rubbish bits?
0:09:44 > 0:09:47That sort of horrible pink that's just slapped on there.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Yeah, that doesn't look good.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Look at the background, you see that sort of solid blue slab of paint?
0:09:52 > 0:09:55- So, why do you think we're seeing that?- I'm hoping...
0:09:55 > 0:09:56HE LAUGHS
0:09:56 > 0:10:01I reckon and I'm hoping this is all a case of the restorer from hell.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Someone has come along and thought they're helping this picture,
0:10:04 > 0:10:09but actually they're just covering it with rubbish layers of overpaint.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12Now, I can see why you might have picked this.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16There's a lot of interest here, it's just...it looks a mess.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18I know. The question is, can we fix it?
0:10:20 > 0:10:21And here is a lovely label.
0:10:23 > 0:10:30"Copy with variations of Meleager and Atalanta by Jacob Jordaens
0:10:30 > 0:10:32- "in the Prado, Madrid."- Ah.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Probably early 18th century.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Early 18th century?
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Well, I don't think that's right.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42The copyist has followed the Flemish handling of the original
0:10:42 > 0:10:45very faithfully and is so self-effacing
0:10:45 > 0:10:48as to be impossible to identify.
0:10:48 > 0:10:49Well...
0:10:50 > 0:10:52But you're not convinced by that?
0:10:52 > 0:10:54What's your hunch, then?
0:10:54 > 0:10:57I don't know. You may think I'm bonkers having seen this wreck,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59but I think this is not by an 18th-century copyist.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01I think it's...
0:11:01 > 0:11:03possibly by Jordaens himself.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06My suspicion is that this could be a study,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09so it could be his first working-out for that subject.
0:11:09 > 0:11:10For the picture in the Prado?
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Yeah, yeah. Which makes it tremendously important
0:11:13 > 0:11:15and tremendously valuable.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21'This picture seems to be a very long way from home,
0:11:21 > 0:11:26'and it would be a terrific help to know when it arrived in the collection.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28'But Swansea Museum has had a chequered history
0:11:28 > 0:11:31'and the records are incomplete.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33'But on the off chance that there is a mention,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35'I volunteer to do the first shift.'
0:11:40 > 0:11:43'As investors in what were then hi-tech industries,
0:11:43 > 0:11:47'the businessmen and industrialists who founded the Swansea Museum
0:11:47 > 0:11:50'were motivated by the latest developments in science
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'and were granted a Royal Charter for their research.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56'It was the very first museum in Wales,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59'with exhibition rooms, a library and laboratory,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02'all contained in a fashionable neo-Egyptian building.'
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Originally there was a tennis court on the front lawn,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14but it had to be closed because of inebriated spectators.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22'It's interesting that the museum was primarily a scientific institution
0:12:22 > 0:12:26'but its opening exhibition should have been of paintings.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28'There's a great piece of high-minded Victorianism
0:12:28 > 0:12:30'from the founding proposal.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34'It would "foster a taste for a better knowledge of the fine arts
0:12:34 > 0:12:38'"among all classes and administer direct gratification
0:12:38 > 0:12:40'"to many cultivated minds".'
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Other highlights from the museum's history include a stuffed elephant,
0:12:45 > 0:12:47which died whilst a circus was in town.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50It was gifted to the museum, where, for a while,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54it became one of the most popular exhibits.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59MUSIC: Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer
0:12:59 > 0:13:01'"Direct gratification to cultivated minds"
0:13:01 > 0:13:04'is still part of the purpose of the museum.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07'Although, today, as well as celebrating the great and good
0:13:07 > 0:13:09'who founded the institution,
0:13:09 > 0:13:14'it also honours the muck and sweat on which the town's industrial success was built.'
0:13:16 > 0:13:20'Bendor and I are getting a peek behind the scenes of an exhibition
0:13:20 > 0:13:24'by one of the greatest painters of Welsh Valley life, who I feel
0:13:24 > 0:13:26'is in danger of being overlooked by art history.'
0:13:29 > 0:13:32So there's something that I wanted to show you, completely different,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35in a way, from what we've been looking at.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37'This is a sextych -
0:13:37 > 0:13:41'a picture made up of six panels - by the Polish artist Josef Herman.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46'Due to its size, it's quite rare for it to be on display,
0:13:46 > 0:13:48'so this is a huge treat for me.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51'Knowing Bendor's love of old brown paintings,
0:13:51 > 0:13:56'I wonder if I can tickle his fancy with a modern brown painting?'
0:13:56 > 0:13:58It's very brown, isn't it?
0:13:58 > 0:14:00It is very brown, but that's interesting.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04One of the things he did was that he underpainted in very,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07very light colours and then built up darker layers on top because he
0:14:07 > 0:14:11wanted to get his figures, all of these big monolithic figures,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14to look as though the light was sort of emanating from within.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18Of course, it's figurative, but it's incredibly abstracted.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20You know, these faces look very totemic and masklike.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23I love these huge hands as well, look at that.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Those enormous sausagey fingers of labour.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29These are not pretty hands.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31You're making a very good case for this picture.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34I'm nearly sold. SHE LAUGHS
0:14:34 > 0:14:37But, actually, he was really interested in the old masters.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Flemish artists, Dutch artists, northern Italian artists,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44so actually, the leap from our possible Jordaens
0:14:44 > 0:14:46is not as far as you might imagine.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48I feel a bit more comfortable now,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52admiring this great masterpiece of post-war Welsh-Polish painting.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55- Is that what we call it? - Maybe Polish-Welsh?
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Polish-Welsh, OK.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00'Whichever way round you join these two nations,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04'I can't help feeling puzzled by what it was that drew Josef Herman
0:15:04 > 0:15:06'from Warsaw all the way to the Welsh Valleys.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17'Herman was a Polish Jew who left his homeland in 1938
0:15:17 > 0:15:19'to escape rising anti-Semitism,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22'but also to pursue his ambitions as an artist.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29'As his train left Warsaw, his mother leaned against the window
0:15:29 > 0:15:32'and told him, "Never, never come back."
0:15:36 > 0:15:37'He wandered through Belgium,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41'visiting art galleries and discovering modern painting.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44'This opened a world of creative possibilities to him.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48'But as a refugee on the run, he was unable to explore his new ideas.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54'When he reached Britain he received the terrible news from the Red Cross
0:15:54 > 0:15:58'that his family had been murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04'The 11 years he was to spend in Wales became a period of healing,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06'and these panels -
0:16:06 > 0:16:09'commissioned for the Welsh pavilion at the Festival of Britain -
0:16:09 > 0:16:11'were his masterpiece.'
0:16:11 > 0:16:14For me, this is the flipside of the story of the Valleys,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18because the men who built this institution had great ideas,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20but their ideas were only possible to put into practice
0:16:20 > 0:16:23because of the incredibly hard graft of men like this.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26The men who actually went down the pits and dug the coal,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29on the basis of which the wealth of Swansea was built.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31So, for me, this is a really heroic picture.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35These are heroic men who should be celebrated every bit as much as
0:16:35 > 0:16:37the patrons and the benefactors.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45'The big question is how a Warsaw art student
0:16:45 > 0:16:49'finally found recognition painting miners in the Welsh Valleys.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54'But we have an even older mystery to unpick.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59'The dilapidated panel of Meleager and Atalanta doesn't seem to fit
0:16:59 > 0:17:02'any of the known facts about Jacob Jordaens.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05'But before we can begin to work out who painted it,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09'we need to get a proper look under the grime and overpaint.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16'Bond Street - the heartbeat of London's art market.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19'Swansea Museum have kindly allowed us to bring their panel
0:17:19 > 0:17:23'to the studio of picture restoration wizard Simon Gillespie,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27'who is helping us unlock the puzzles hidden in all our pictures.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34'With a battery of modern scientific tools, but most importantly
0:17:34 > 0:17:39'an expert eye and a forensic touch, Simon will help find the evidence
0:17:39 > 0:17:42'that will tell us what our paintings really are.'
0:17:46 > 0:17:49This is an enormous amount of overpaint.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52It's rather alarming because if that is really necessary,
0:17:52 > 0:17:53then there's a problem.
0:17:55 > 0:17:56But we should have a look.
0:17:58 > 0:17:59There we go. Look at that.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04The original's colour here
0:18:04 > 0:18:06is very well worth looking at.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10That little bit in there is the original.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12That is the ghastly, horrible overpaint.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14Oh, I see. So under the horse's mouth,
0:18:14 > 0:18:18that very pale blue is the original sky colour and then we've got
0:18:18 > 0:18:21- horrid, lurid blue there... - Which is overpaint.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Which is all over that background.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26- So, in other words...- And also, there's dirt as well.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31Lots of dirt. But in other words it looks like all this overpaint
0:18:31 > 0:18:33could possibly just be cosmetic,
0:18:33 > 0:18:35- where someone has tried to make a sketch...- Yeah.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38- ..look...- More substantial, yeah.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40- ..more like a finished picture. - Yeah.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42What is this sort of, like, treacly dribble here?
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Treacl...
0:18:44 > 0:18:47It's sort of a thick varnish that's been applied on the top.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50- And just left to run down? - Just left to run down,
0:18:50 > 0:18:51it's a ridiculous thing to have done.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55- God.- Well, if the same man who did this overpaint has done that,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58it's a very silly thing.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00He should be had up for crimes against conservation.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Yes, I don't know what we'd do with him, really.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05We'd probably overpaint him.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Murder by overpainting! Death by overpaint.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11'So to recap, it's filthy,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14'there are thick layers of clumsily applied varnish
0:19:14 > 0:19:18'and there are significant areas of heavy overpainting.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21'Fortunately, Simon enjoys a challenge.'
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Immediately you can see the overpaint fluorescing.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35'This is where the real magic of our detection takes place.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39'Even removing a simple layer of dust can reveal new clues.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42'Gradually, as the dust comes away,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45'it's as if we're able to travel back hundreds of years
0:19:45 > 0:19:49'and look over the shoulder of the artist as he painted.'
0:19:49 > 0:19:50This is like wetting a pebble on the beach,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53you suddenly get all the colours and depth inside the stone.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56So, for the first time now...
0:19:56 > 0:19:58- Yes, look.- ..we can see the body of the dog.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Very nice. Look, these little flashes of colour are hidden away
0:20:01 > 0:20:04in there. I mean, this is somebody...
0:20:04 > 0:20:05You can see through here,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08look, these wonderful confident brushstrokes.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10And it's in really lovely condition as well.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12That's really exciting to see that.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15I think we should give our overpainting friend a name.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20And in honour of Swansea's other most famous son,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22I'm going to call him Dylan. Dylan Thomas.
0:20:22 > 0:20:23Dylan the overpainter.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Dylan the overpainter.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28- Dastardly Dylan. - Dastardly Dylan, yes.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34'The various bottles on Simon's trolley
0:20:34 > 0:20:38'are bespoke mixtures of alchemical solutions.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40'A watery concoction to remove dust,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43'or a more powerful one to attack the overpaint.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48'It seems there's hardly an area of the picture
0:20:48 > 0:20:51'that hasn't suffered from Dylan's attentions.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55'The horseman's sword is completely different to the original.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59'Atalanta has been given a new red frock
0:20:59 > 0:21:02'and even her rosy nipple is a later embellishment.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07'Simon's first efforts have confirmed that under the dust,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12'dirt and overpaint, we can see the hand of a very fine painter.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16'But they also throw up some knotty questions -
0:21:16 > 0:21:18'what exactly are we dealing with here?'
0:21:18 > 0:21:21According to the note on the back of this picture, Simon,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25it's supposed to be a copy of this painting in the Prado.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29A much bigger oil-on-canvas version of Meleager and Atalanta.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33If the artist was making a copy of this, they would have applied a much
0:21:33 > 0:21:36thicker paint. This is actually painted rather like a watercolour.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38- Yes.- Very thinly applied washes,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41- very confidently blocking out or sketching in...- Yeah.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45- ..the idea.- It looks as if it's not intended to be seen as a finished
0:21:45 > 0:21:47- painting.- Absolutely. Yeah.- Yeah.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51But there is a problem here, because according to this catalogue entry,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54the Prado picture was made in two stages.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57First one circa 1620-1623
0:21:57 > 0:21:59but then it was enlarged with the addition of this other half
0:21:59 > 0:22:01in about 1640.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05'The experts claim the left-hand half of the painting
0:22:05 > 0:22:08'was an addition made 20 years later.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11'But - and this is a big but -'
0:22:13 > 0:22:16'..if the Swansea panel was made before the Prado picture,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20'then it must surely be a sketch by Jordaens himself,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23'and the Prado picture must have been painted in one go.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29'I think it's time to plunge into the world Jordaens was painting in.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32'We need to find out more about his technique
0:22:32 > 0:22:34'and whether sketches like our panel
0:22:34 > 0:22:36'were part of his normal working practice.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47'In the early years of the 17th century, Antwerp was experiencing
0:22:47 > 0:22:49'an economic and cultural boom.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56'Jordaens was born in the city in 1593
0:22:56 > 0:22:59'and became a pupil of Peter Paul Rubens.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02'And, for a time, worked alongside Anthony van Dyck.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07'The city became one of the most creative in the world
0:23:07 > 0:23:11'and could comfortably support these three giants of the Flemish Baroque.'
0:23:15 > 0:23:16'Rubens' house and workshop,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19'which were an inspiration for Jordaens' similar set-up,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21'have survived pretty much intact.'
0:23:24 > 0:23:25This is Rubens' studio.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28For me, it's the birthplace of some of the greatest works of art
0:23:28 > 0:23:30the world has ever seen.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34You might think it's quite a large space for one artist to work in,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36but in the early 17th century it would have been packed full
0:23:36 > 0:23:40of pupils and assistants working on a whole number of different pictures
0:23:40 > 0:23:43under the guidance of the master himself.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46And it's very likely that one of those was Jordaens.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51'Today, Rubens' house is a museum, and it contains self-portraits
0:23:51 > 0:23:53'of both Rubens and Jordaens.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58'They tell us a lot about how each man saw himself.'
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Here's Rubens, international jet-set painter and diplomat.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Friend of royalty.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Looking suave and confident with his whiskers waxed
0:24:09 > 0:24:11and his hat cocked at a jaunty angle.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15And here's our man, Jordaens.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17The local lad who looks like he's had a few beers
0:24:17 > 0:24:21and thinks we'd all like to hear just how clever he is on the bagpipes.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Well, that's certainly how the history books
0:24:24 > 0:24:26have described the two men, but are they right?
0:24:27 > 0:24:31Well, it's the inevitable fate of everyone working in Antwerp
0:24:31 > 0:24:35in the first part of the 17th century.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38I mean, Rubens was a giant, a genius.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Van Dyck came close, but he was, at the end of the day, the lesser genius,
0:24:42 > 0:24:48and then there was Jordaens, you know, the bronze medal, so to speak.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53But I can see Jordaens, certainly the Jordaens...the early Jordaens,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57working between, say, 1615-1645 roughly,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00as really a great, great master.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04'If our panel was a preliminary sketch, or a modello,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07'as the art jargon has it,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10'I wondered if this was common working practice in Antwerp
0:25:10 > 0:25:12'at the time.'
0:25:12 > 0:25:15They were used as models - "modelli" in Italian -...
0:25:16 > 0:25:20..to be presented to the patron,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24the person who commissioned the painting,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26but also they could be,
0:25:26 > 0:25:31or can be considered as tryouts in which the artist seeks to find
0:25:31 > 0:25:35a proper... the most exciting compositions.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39They played a vital part in Flemish studio practice.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43So when someone presents a possible Jordaens picture to you,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46what are you looking for? What do you see that makes you think,
0:25:46 > 0:25:47"Aha! This is by Jordaens"?
0:25:49 > 0:25:53The sketching, the fluidity of the brushwork,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57the colour, all that is...
0:25:57 > 0:26:00all those elements make it into a Jordaens.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11'Jordaens' reputation has never been as high as that of Rubens.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13'He was not from the city's elite
0:26:13 > 0:26:16'and is felt to have been much more comfortable depicting the rougher
0:26:16 > 0:26:19'pleasures of life, because he understood them himself.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26'His talent for finely observed detail is evident
0:26:26 > 0:26:31'in the rough-and-tumble drunken fun of The King Drinks, here.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34'And we see the same skill in the way he captures the behaviour
0:26:34 > 0:26:36'of the dogs in the Swansea panel.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42'But this was not the limit of his artistic abilities.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44'He was also a careful craftsman
0:26:44 > 0:26:46'whose pictures show a great amount of thought.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49'And if the Swansea panel is a preparatory sketch,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53'it would confirm how much planning he put into his compositions.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01'Jordaens was certainly a popular success,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04'and kept himself in fine style.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10'This was his home and studio.'
0:27:12 > 0:27:15When he was 25, he was earning enough to buy this house,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18and with a few additions and extensions
0:27:18 > 0:27:22it would remain his home for the rest of his life.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25'Unlike his more famous contemporaries,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28'Jordaens never felt any urge to leave Antwerp.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31'And this may have contributed to his reputation
0:27:31 > 0:27:33'as a less sophisticated painter.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39'While van Dyck was a bit of an Anglophile and ended up in London,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42'and Rubens toured the royal courts of Europe as a diplomat -
0:27:42 > 0:27:45'some might even say spy -
0:27:45 > 0:27:48'Jordaens, it seems, was happy in his hometown.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53'But though he was less well travelled,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56'I think his mythological pictures are every bit
0:27:56 > 0:27:59'as intellectually considered as Rubens'.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06'There's a popular tradition in Flemish painting
0:28:06 > 0:28:10'of busy genre scenes, showing the everyday lives of people
0:28:10 > 0:28:12'going about their daily chores.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17'And Jordaens' boozy pictures show he loved this kind of painting.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19'But grander mythological subjects
0:28:19 > 0:28:23'not only sold like hot cakes to the city's bourgeoisie,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27'they were also an opportunity for a painter to advertise his own learning.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35'Antwerp was a progressive city, the cradle of the Northern Renaissance,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39'and its wealthy merchants wanted to feel part of the intellectual life
0:28:39 > 0:28:41'of the city.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45'Commissioning art showing scenes from classical myths and legends
0:28:45 > 0:28:46'was one way to do this.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55'Typical of Antwerp's chattering classes was a lawyer
0:28:55 > 0:28:59'called Nicolaas Rockox, whose home survives as a museum.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05'This was the sort of place where the city's intelligentsia
0:29:05 > 0:29:07'would have met to discuss the classics,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11'like the Roman poet Ovid, whose Metamorphoses
0:29:11 > 0:29:14'was the source of the myth of Meleager and Atalanta.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19'Their imaginations would have been fired by the paintings on the walls,
0:29:19 > 0:29:21'showing scenes from the legends.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24'The story of Atalanta and Meleager hunting the boar
0:29:24 > 0:29:27'was a staple subject of these works.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31'This example by Rubens from 1616 is just one of many.'
0:29:34 > 0:29:38They were mad for Ovid in early-17th-century Antwerp.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42And this version by Jordaens was painted around 1617,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46a year or so after Rubens' picture and just as Jordaens was starting
0:29:46 > 0:29:49to find success as an independent artist.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57'Several new translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses were published
0:29:57 > 0:30:01'at this time. Each one inspiring painters to pick a different moment
0:30:01 > 0:30:05'in the story to ramp up the action.'
0:30:05 > 0:30:07The myth tells of a rampaging boar
0:30:07 > 0:30:10that had been destroying the vineyards of the King.
0:30:10 > 0:30:11His son, Meleager,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14is tasked with rounding up the greatest hunters in the kingdom
0:30:14 > 0:30:19to catch the boar. Including the fearsome female warrior, Atalanta,
0:30:19 > 0:30:20with whom he's in love.
0:30:20 > 0:30:25And it's she, rather than any of the men, who strikes the first blow.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29To honour her, Meleager presents her with the boar's head as a trophy.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33'Some of the other hunters were jealous
0:30:33 > 0:30:35'that a woman would be honoured in this way,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38'and try to take the boar's head back.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42'Meleager draws his sword, and in the bloodbath that ensues
0:30:42 > 0:30:46'our hero and several of his close relatives end up dead.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50'So, what's the moral we're supposed to take away here?
0:30:50 > 0:30:52'Not to act on impulsive anger.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56'But is there something else Jordaens has in mind?'
0:30:58 > 0:31:01This is the battle between reason and passion.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04Between a vigorous youth and his aged forefathers.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08In that sense, it might even be a vision of Jordaens himself.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11Carving a new, independent voice in the face of the older,
0:31:11 > 0:31:13more experienced Rubens.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25'So, what have we found out about Jordaens from our Antwerp visit?
0:31:25 > 0:31:30'And where does our Swansea picture fit into the story?'
0:31:30 > 0:31:32It seems to me you can make a case for him actually being a really
0:31:32 > 0:31:37intellectual thinker about how to put classical subjects
0:31:37 > 0:31:39in paint form.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42He's evolving Rubens' very consciously classical figures
0:31:42 > 0:31:44into something a little bit more interesting
0:31:44 > 0:31:47in terms of the story of the subject matter.
0:31:47 > 0:31:52I love the way in Jordaens' version, our Atalanta is not this gorgeous
0:31:52 > 0:31:55elevated goddess of mythology,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58she's a kind of ruddy-faced Antwerp woman...
0:31:58 > 0:32:00- Yes.- ..who might have been wandering the streets outside his house
0:32:00 > 0:32:02- that very morning.- Yes.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05You get that sense of real life colliding with high art.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07I love that mix of high and low.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09That seems to be really uniquely Jordaens.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Yes, that's very interesting.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16And he was obviously someone who wanted to explore the story
0:32:16 > 0:32:18of Atalanta and Meleager a great deal more,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21because then a few years later, with this picture in the Prado,
0:32:21 > 0:32:23he completely reinvents the whole scene.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27I'm hoping and I think that our picture from Swansea
0:32:27 > 0:32:31is the bridge between Jordaens' early efforts
0:32:31 > 0:32:34of Atalanta and Meleager in the Rockox house, and then...
0:32:36 > 0:32:38..you come to the finished picture in the Prado.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42The more famous one. I think our picture is actually going to be
0:32:42 > 0:32:44quite crucial in helping us to sort of
0:32:44 > 0:32:47cast a new light on Jordaens' early career.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51But the problem we have is that according to all the Jordaens scholars
0:32:51 > 0:32:53from about the last century,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56they are convinced that that picture in the Prado was painted
0:32:56 > 0:32:58in two halves, 20 years apart.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03That would undermine our idea that Jordaens was someone
0:33:03 > 0:33:06who was thinking quite deeply about these classical subjects.
0:33:06 > 0:33:08So it is our mission
0:33:08 > 0:33:11to rehabilitate Jordaens through this painting in Swansea.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14So I want to go and have a look at it in person, actually,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16and try and get to the bottom of what's going on there.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18So off to Madrid you go.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21- Off to Madrid.- In the meantime, I've got a slightly different sort of
0:33:21 > 0:33:23journey and discovery in mind.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27- So I'm heading back to the Valleys of Wales.- Right.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49It's thrilling to think that our panel might be a lost masterpiece,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52but it's important not to forget where we found the picture
0:33:52 > 0:33:54and what it might mean to Swansea.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58'I'm taking the bus into the Valleys to recreate a journey
0:33:58 > 0:34:01'that was made by Josef Herman,
0:34:01 > 0:34:04'whose monumental mining painting we saw at the museum.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11'His destination,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15'at the foot of the mountain Craig y Farteg, was the mining village
0:34:15 > 0:34:16'of Ystradgynlais.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20'When Josef Herman arrived here in 1944
0:34:20 > 0:34:25'he was still deeply traumatised by the loss of his family in the Holocaust.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28'He later described feeling a void of inner emptiness.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34'He'd planned to visit for a few days, but he stayed for 11 years.'
0:34:36 > 0:34:40What was it about a small mining village in the Brecons
0:34:40 > 0:34:43that had such a profound appeal to a Polish-Jewish refugee?
0:34:48 > 0:34:51'For me, this is something of a personal pilgrimage.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54'I've always loved Herman's work,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58'but until now I've never visited the Welsh Valleys that inspired him.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04'The main street of Ystradgynlais,
0:35:04 > 0:35:08'with its stone cottages regularly interspersed with Nonconformist chapels,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12'isn't noticeably different from many other pit villages,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16'but something happened here that afternoon that made him decide to stay.'
0:35:28 > 0:35:30As he took in the local scene from this bridge,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33a group of miners suddenly appeared.
0:35:33 > 0:35:34They stopped and chatted
0:35:34 > 0:35:38and their bodies were silhouetted against the setting sun.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42In that instant - the seminal moment of Herman's creative life -
0:35:42 > 0:35:44he knew that he'd found a fresh subject,
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and a renewed sense of purpose for his art.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55'Ystradgynlais,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59'set in a fold in the Brecon Beacons and surrounded by coal mines,
0:35:59 > 0:36:01'became his adopted home.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03'And the miners his inspiration.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09'At first he stayed here, at the Penybont Inn,
0:36:09 > 0:36:13'in a large room above the bar known as the ballroom.
0:36:13 > 0:36:14'This was his window.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20'In Josef's diary, he relates how he would wake up to the sound of
0:36:20 > 0:36:22'the miners' hobnailed boots on the cobbles
0:36:22 > 0:36:24'as they walked to work in the dark.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28'When he lifted the curtain aside to watch,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31'they would give him a friendly wave.'
0:36:31 > 0:36:33He quickly developed a fluent style,
0:36:33 > 0:36:35working with charcoal and black ink
0:36:35 > 0:36:38and creating a palette and texture for his work
0:36:38 > 0:36:41that perfectly mirrored that thick layer of coal dust
0:36:41 > 0:36:44that coated his subjects.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47Eventually, after two years of sketching,
0:36:47 > 0:36:49he at last felt confident enough to paint.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59'In order to better understand the lives of these men,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02'Herman began to go down the mines to sketch the backbreaking work
0:37:02 > 0:37:06'in progress, sharing the discomfort and the risk.'
0:37:08 > 0:37:10My painting,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13which is something I enjoy more than anything else in life...
0:37:15 > 0:37:16..is, at heart, serious.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20When all is said and done,
0:37:20 > 0:37:25I am more interested in moral than in aesthetic values.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30'His moral values were moulded by a strongly left-wing political outlook,
0:37:30 > 0:37:34'and he certainly found a kindred spirit in the mining communities.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37'But at the same time as he became established as a painter,
0:37:37 > 0:37:41'he began to make contact with galleries in London.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47'After six years of wandering Europe with a bad case of creative block,
0:37:47 > 0:37:49'Wales became a place of healing.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56'At this point, with the help of new friend Dai Williams,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01'he converted a small factory building into a place to live and work.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04'Today, it's home to Dai's niece, Betty.'
0:38:04 > 0:38:10He referred often to the ease of the acceptance,
0:38:10 > 0:38:14how easily and quickly he was accepted by the people.
0:38:14 > 0:38:19Within a few days, they had affectionately called him Joe Bach.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21He was known as Joe Bach forever.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23What does "bach" mean in Welsh?
0:38:23 > 0:38:25"Bach" is really small.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27But it is an affectionate term.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32You know, when we say "bach", we mean it in a friendly way.
0:38:32 > 0:38:33Yes.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38I think that he saw some similarities with his...
0:38:39 > 0:38:41..with his homeland as well.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44With working-class...
0:38:45 > 0:38:48..the devout chapel-goers
0:38:48 > 0:38:52with his devout grandparents to the synagogue,
0:38:52 > 0:38:55the two languages of Yiddish and Polish and English and Welsh.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59He loved, when he stayed at the Penybont,
0:38:59 > 0:39:05just to come down to the bar and to discuss politics and economics
0:39:05 > 0:39:07with the miners in the bar at the Penybont.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13'Josef Herman is still remembered fondly in the bar of the Penybont Inn.'
0:39:13 > 0:39:16That's a fantastic photograph, isn't it?
0:39:16 > 0:39:18Let's have a look.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22'Former miner Viv has a photograph of the villagers as they prepared
0:39:22 > 0:39:24'for the 1951 Festival of Britain.'
0:39:24 > 0:39:27- Joe Bach is there. - There he is, at the edge.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Why do you think he was so interested in the miners?
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Well, put it this way, it wasn't easy work,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and he had a lot of respect for the miners, you know.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45He went through a lot himself to get here, you know.
0:39:45 > 0:39:46I think he appreciated...
0:39:47 > 0:39:50..what we were doing for Britain,
0:39:50 > 0:39:52relatively speaking.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56It sounds like his politics were very similar to a lot of people here
0:39:56 > 0:39:59- as well.- Oh, yes. The working class.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02- And very radical and left-wing.- He was very close to the working class, you know.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04He went up to London and...
0:40:06 > 0:40:08..hobnobbing about with the bigwigs, like, you know!
0:40:08 > 0:40:12But, still, I think his heart remained with the working class.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25'The mining industry that was such an inspiration to Herman has gone.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31'There were six pits surrounding the village, all of which have closed.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34'But some of the machinery from Cefn Coed Colliery
0:40:34 > 0:40:35'is preserved as a museum.
0:40:39 > 0:40:40'Impressive as it is,
0:40:40 > 0:40:44'it wasn't the mechanisation that inspired Josef Herman.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48'His art is solely focused on the human toil
0:40:48 > 0:40:50'in this most challenging environment.'
0:40:52 > 0:40:56He was a refugee, an orphan from the storms of the 20th century,
0:40:56 > 0:40:58but he did find peace here in the end,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01as well as acceptance by the Welsh people.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05So much so that his huge miners mural represented Wales
0:41:05 > 0:41:07at the Festival of Britain in 1951.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14'It was this painting that cemented his reputation in Britain.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18'His work now hangs in many collections, including the Tate,
0:41:18 > 0:41:23'and he received an OBE in 1981 for services to British art.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29'Yet he never forgot his ties to the people of the Valleys.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36'For Herman, the mountain Craig y Farteg loomed large,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39'a physical manifestation of the work of the miners
0:41:39 > 0:41:41'and the life of the community.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48'He, perhaps, put it best himself.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52'"I don't have to explain myself to these people, they already know."
0:42:08 > 0:42:11'Today is a big day for our Jordaens investigation.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14'I'm going to see the full-sized painting
0:42:14 > 0:42:16'for which we think our panel is a study.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21'It has had an interesting life since it left his studio.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24'For a while, it hung over the bed of the Queen of Spain,
0:42:24 > 0:42:28'in the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31'But these days, it's in the collection of the Prado Museum
0:42:31 > 0:42:32'in Madrid.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37'There's no doubt that the picture has been painted on two strips
0:42:37 > 0:42:39'of canvas joined together.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43'You can see the seam quite clearly.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47'It's when they were painted that's the key question in our investigation.'
0:42:49 > 0:42:53So the theory is that Jordaens painted this picture in two halves.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57He painted the half on the right in about 1620
0:42:57 > 0:43:02and then 20 years later he painted these figures here.
0:43:04 > 0:43:05But I just don't buy it.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11'Accepted wisdom says that these characters on the left
0:43:11 > 0:43:13'are painted in a later style,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16'softer and more muted than Meleager and Atalanta.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20'But I think this is entirely intentional
0:43:20 > 0:43:24'and is done to accentuate the drama of the picture.'
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Here, Jordaens has turned himself into a stage director,
0:43:27 > 0:43:30and in order to make sure your eye - the viewer's eye -
0:43:30 > 0:43:33goes straight to the important bit of the story,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37he's lit them more strongly and there's less light on these people.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40So your eye goes to the heart of the action.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43And you're drawn
0:43:43 > 0:43:46to not only the gaze between Atalanta and Meleager,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50but also her hand here, which is the key part of the story.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53Where she's trying to stop him from drawing his sword
0:43:53 > 0:43:56and causing further bloodshed and violence.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02If I'm right, if this picture was painted all at once,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05then suddenly that allows the possibility
0:44:05 > 0:44:09that the painting in Swansea is not a copy, but a preparatory study.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13Because it doesn't make much sense for a copyist to see a picture
0:44:13 > 0:44:17by Jordaens and then decide, "I'm going to add in some extra figures."
0:44:19 > 0:44:23But if you accept the painting in Swansea as a study for this picture,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26then it all begins to fall into place and you can see why
0:44:26 > 0:44:30some of the figures might have been taken out in order to fit
0:44:30 > 0:44:33the subject onto the composition we have here.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36And it's interesting to notice some of the differences.
0:44:36 > 0:44:37The most important one, I think,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40is we no longer have that mad-looking horseman
0:44:40 > 0:44:41in the centre of the canvas
0:44:41 > 0:44:43who was about to chop off Meleager's head.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45He's gone.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48And then my favourites change, actually,
0:44:48 > 0:44:50is up here at the boar's head.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52In the painting in Swansea, the boar is very dead,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55and his eye is closed. But here, it's open,
0:44:55 > 0:44:58and it's almost as if he's been brought back to life a bit.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03'He's staring down on the action with a knowing look,
0:45:03 > 0:45:05'as if to say, "You may have killed me,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08'"but the game's up for you lot in a minute."
0:45:12 > 0:45:14'Having got up close and personal with this picture,
0:45:14 > 0:45:19'I now feel more certain than ever that Jordaens painted it in one go.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22'I can't see anything here to support the idea that he added
0:45:22 > 0:45:25'the left-hand section at a later date.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27'But, if that is the case,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30'then how do we explain the join down the middle of the canvas?
0:45:36 > 0:45:40'I think I may have found something to help us out on that point.'
0:45:41 > 0:45:44I've been doing a bit of digging here about the artist's materials
0:45:44 > 0:45:46that would have been available in Antwerp
0:45:46 > 0:45:49at the beginning of the 17th century.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51And it looks like one of the standard widths for canvas
0:45:51 > 0:45:53was 120 centimetres.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58'This is from the inventory of a shop in Rotterdam
0:45:58 > 0:46:02'that dealt with suppliers in Antwerp in the 17th century.
0:46:02 > 0:46:07'You can see the width they were supplying was 7/4 ells wide,
0:46:07 > 0:46:09'and in today's money that's 120 centimetres.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16'The Prado picture is double that - 240 centimetres wide.'
0:46:17 > 0:46:21So what that means is that Jordaens, in order to make a bigger picture,
0:46:21 > 0:46:25would have had to stitch together two standard widths of canvas.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29'Could that account for the seam running down the centre of the Prado painting?
0:46:37 > 0:46:39'This new information is very convincing.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41'But can we actually prove it?
0:46:43 > 0:46:46'If Jordaens did make paintings from two sections of canvas
0:46:46 > 0:46:49'simply because that was what a dealer sold,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52'then we should see the same phenomena on other large paintings
0:46:52 > 0:46:54'from the same period.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58'The Brussels Museum of Fine Art
0:46:58 > 0:47:00'has a Jordaens painting of an identical width
0:47:00 > 0:47:03'to the Prado picture, and made shortly afterwards.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09'Most significantly, it too is made of two strips of canvas.'
0:47:11 > 0:47:14You can very clearly see the seam down the middle of this picture
0:47:14 > 0:47:17where the two bits of canvas were joined together.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19But no-one has ever suggested that this composition was made
0:47:19 > 0:47:21in two halves at two different times.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24It simply wouldn't make any sense if it had been, because the line goes
0:47:24 > 0:47:27straight through the middle of the lady's head up here,
0:47:27 > 0:47:30and it would also chop this lady's fingers off.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32She would have a mutilated hand.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35So, clearly, this painting was conceived all at once.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40And the reason that this picture is so crucial to our case is because
0:47:40 > 0:47:43we have a preparatory drawing that relates to it
0:47:43 > 0:47:45and it shows exactly what Jordaens was thinking
0:47:45 > 0:47:47when he was making pictures like this.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52This drawing shows us Jordaens' first idea for the painting
0:47:52 > 0:47:56behind me. You can see that there were originally more figures
0:47:56 > 0:48:00in the picture, and also it was wider - there was more space.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02And Jordaens, in the finished picture,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06has taken away this space here, the figures are closer together.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09And he's deleted this character and this character,
0:48:09 > 0:48:11which you don't see in the middle of the painting.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13It feels like he's sort of
0:48:13 > 0:48:16tightened the focus on the composition a little bit more.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20And I think you can see exactly the same creative process
0:48:20 > 0:48:22in the relationship between our study from Swansea
0:48:22 > 0:48:25and the finished picture in the Prado.
0:48:25 > 0:48:26The focus has been tightened again
0:48:26 > 0:48:30and the composition has been narrowed and squeezed in a bit.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33Suddenly we can see how all of Jordaens' Atalanta and Meleager
0:48:33 > 0:48:36pictures fit together. I think they were all painted
0:48:36 > 0:48:40in a fairly condensed period from about 1616 to 1620.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48'In each iteration of the myth, he subtly plays with the action.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54'Refining his ideas to present the most intense,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57'emotional moment in the story.'
0:48:57 > 0:49:00So, Jordaens wasn't the slapdash painter of classical scenes
0:49:00 > 0:49:04that he's been made out to be. He really thought things through.
0:49:04 > 0:49:05He was meticulous.
0:49:09 > 0:49:10'Back in Bond Street,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13'restoration proceeds apace on our Swansea painting.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19'Simon and his team are coaxing the warped cedar planks of the panel
0:49:19 > 0:49:21'back into one harmonious whole,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25'using a series of techniques that are centuries old.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27'It involves some delicate clamping
0:49:27 > 0:49:30'and the use of an old glue recipe made from rabbit hide.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37'Having not seen any of the restoration work until now,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40'I would have to say the results look pretty spectacular
0:49:40 > 0:49:42'and a world away from the grubby set of planks
0:49:42 > 0:49:47'you could shine a torch through back in the Swansea warehouse.'
0:49:47 > 0:49:49I'm very pleased about the panel and the way it's come together.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52It's got this natural bow to it, which is what happens with wood
0:49:52 > 0:49:56when it dries. It dries a lot on the back and it doesn't dry so much
0:49:56 > 0:49:59on the front where the paint is, because the paint is holding it firm.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02And so it shrinks on the back and therefore you get this curve.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04'Even the back of the panel is looking good.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09'And it's here that Simon's made a fresh discovery.'
0:50:10 > 0:50:13So this shows it up very clearly.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15So, now, what's that?
0:50:15 > 0:50:17This is undoubtedly a panel maker's mark.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20So that's a specific maker.
0:50:20 > 0:50:21Wow.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25'But that's not all. There are some more barely legible impressions
0:50:25 > 0:50:26'on the back of the panel.'
0:50:26 > 0:50:28I've got to be honest, it looks like a slight blob,
0:50:28 > 0:50:31- a slight blemish in the wood, to me. - Somebody's dropped the panel!
0:50:31 > 0:50:35It's not a particularly good example, but this is very exciting to see.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38So all of this together, actually,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42very specifically helps place this panel in time and space.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45- Yes, it is extraordinary.- That's a huge piece of evidence.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48A massive amount. It's really good news to see that.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52'Simon makes a tracing of these marks for further investigation.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02'I'm hoping a trip to the Witt Library at the Courtauld Institute
0:51:02 > 0:51:06'in London, armed with Simon's tracing, will prove conclusively
0:51:06 > 0:51:09'that our panel is not a later copy.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15'This is a compelling piece of evidence for the painting.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19'Panel makers' marks are exactly like hallmarks on a piece of gold,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23'recording when, where and by whom the panel was made.'
0:51:26 > 0:51:28This is one of those fantastic art history books where someone
0:51:28 > 0:51:31has done all the hard work and people like me can just come along
0:51:31 > 0:51:33and pluck their conclusions.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38An art historian called Professor Juergen Wadham has spent decades
0:51:38 > 0:51:42cataloguing all of these panel marks that one finds on the back
0:51:42 > 0:51:44of panel paintings.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48And he's worked out what they mean, and particularly,
0:51:48 > 0:51:50what dates they relate to.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54There are two key marks on the back of our picture.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58The first is the brand of the City of Antwerp,
0:51:58 > 0:52:00which panel makers were compelled, by law,
0:52:00 > 0:52:03to apply to the back of their panels.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06And on the back of our picture we have what's catalogued here as brand
0:52:06 > 0:52:11number one, which was only in use between 1617 and 1626.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16And the second was the year stamp. In our case, the letter A.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20And according to this research,
0:52:20 > 0:52:25the conjunction between that City of Antwerp brand and the letter A
0:52:25 > 0:52:31means the panel almost certainly was made between 1619 and 1622.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34In other words, that is exactly the right date for when we think
0:52:34 > 0:52:36Jordaens painted our picture.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43'The dating from the panel marks is conclusive proof
0:52:43 > 0:52:45'that the painting is not a later copy,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49'but it also puts to the sword the notion that the Prado picture
0:52:49 > 0:52:52'was made in two stages, 20 years apart.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01'Our panel has been on quite a journey since it left Swansea.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03'After Simon's initial surface clean,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06'it has been scanned with ultraviolet light to reveal
0:53:06 > 0:53:09'the overpaint, which was then painstakingly removed.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14'We have said goodbye to the disastrous dog...'
0:53:16 > 0:53:17'..the slapdash sky...
0:53:20 > 0:53:24'..and the embarrassing embellishments to My Little Pony.'
0:53:24 > 0:53:26- Dylan the overpainter. - Dylan the overpainter.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29He couldn't have painted over a cafe wall!
0:53:32 > 0:53:36'The planks were rejoined and the damaged areas have been retouched.
0:53:37 > 0:53:42'It's now looking transformed and is ready to take its bow.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46'We've invited our Jordaens expert -
0:53:46 > 0:53:49'Ben van Beneden from Antwerp - to give it the once-over.'
0:53:55 > 0:53:57We're very pleased with how it's come up,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59but we're in that stage where we've all spent so much time
0:53:59 > 0:54:01with the painting, we're biased.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04To have a fresh perspective's very useful.
0:54:04 > 0:54:05I understand why.
0:54:09 > 0:54:10Um...
0:54:14 > 0:54:16It's a great find.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18It astonishes me.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20I didn't quite expect this.
0:54:23 > 0:54:24In all fairness.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that we are looking at
0:54:30 > 0:54:32a quintessential painting by...
0:54:32 > 0:54:35well, a modello, by Jacob Jordaens.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39Splendid.
0:54:39 > 0:54:40That's very, very good news.
0:54:40 > 0:54:41Yeah.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46- Very exciting.- And, Ben, if we're right about the dating of this,
0:54:46 > 0:54:50then it seems to me that that slightly means we have to look again
0:54:50 > 0:54:54at his working practice as it's been told to us in recent art history,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56the idea that he went around with the painting in the Prado
0:54:56 > 0:54:59just adding bits on. He didn't.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02He was thinking deeply about the subject.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06Well, yes, that is a consequence of what we see here.
0:55:06 > 0:55:07We will have to...
0:55:09 > 0:55:11..reconsider...
0:55:11 > 0:55:12um...
0:55:12 > 0:55:14..and you will have to go and talk to...
0:55:16 > 0:55:18..colleagues in the Prado Museum...
0:55:19 > 0:55:23..and all the people working on Jordaens,
0:55:23 > 0:55:24because this tells us...
0:55:24 > 0:55:27This gives us information that we didn't have before.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31Quite important information.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33How common are these large-scale...
0:55:34 > 0:55:36..modellos in Jordaens'...?
0:55:37 > 0:55:43I would say this is pretty rare a picture.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46Not a lot of examples spring to mind.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50It is also a very detailed thing in many respects,
0:55:50 > 0:55:52although it is a sketch.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00It is almost like, you know, a full-bodied composition.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04I know it's always very subjective to try and see elements
0:56:04 > 0:56:06of a character in the artist,
0:56:06 > 0:56:08someone who's been dead for hundreds of years,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10but I do think Jordaens had a great sense of humour.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13And I love the fact that this little dog is staring out at us,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16like he's completely lost in the composition.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19I sort of think Jordaens puts these humorous touches in
0:56:19 > 0:56:22every now and then, doesn't he?
0:56:22 > 0:56:25It's a humorous touch, and at the same time it shows his understanding
0:56:25 > 0:56:27of those elements. He must have had dogs...
0:56:28 > 0:56:32..of his own. I mean, that is actually what would happen.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35- Yes.- And then you also have the odd dog...
0:56:36 > 0:56:38..who is just not interested.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41He just doesn't care about the excitement.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45That adds to the picture.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49You look at it, you understand the story, you see what's going on,
0:56:49 > 0:56:53but then there are almost... I wouldn't call it layers,
0:56:53 > 0:56:54but there's much more to see...
0:56:57 > 0:57:00..when you start looking closely.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03We've got another museum label to change, then!
0:57:03 > 0:57:06- Yeah.- The story continues.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09The story continues. Again, it's a wonderful find
0:57:09 > 0:57:12and I am absolutely sure that many, many people...
0:57:14 > 0:57:15..will be...
0:57:16 > 0:57:18- ..over the moon with it.- Good.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22Well, hopefully, none more so than the people in Swansea.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29'Swansea Museum has been ticking over just fine
0:57:29 > 0:57:33'while the panel by an unknown artist has been absent
0:57:33 > 0:57:35'from the storeroom picture racks.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41'But I'm pretty sure Garethe, the curator,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45'will remember the day it came home for quite a while.'
0:57:45 > 0:57:47We've had the picture cleaned and restored,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and I think it now looks pretty...pretty exciting.
0:57:50 > 0:57:51So I hope you like it.
0:57:52 > 0:57:53Here it is.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58THEY GASP
0:57:58 > 0:58:00'When we uncovered the restored painting,
0:58:00 > 0:58:04'there was a satisfying intake of breath around the room.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07'And another one when Bendor revealed some recent prices
0:58:07 > 0:58:08'for Jordaens' work.'
0:58:08 > 0:58:11The market particularly values sketches by Jordaens.
0:58:11 > 0:58:17In fact, the record for a Jordaens price is a sketch about this size,
0:58:17 > 0:58:19from about this period, which was sold just earlier this year
0:58:19 > 0:58:22in New York for 5 million.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27'And now the cat is out of the bag,
0:58:27 > 0:58:29'it's time to get on the phone to the Prado.'