0:00:02 > 0:00:04Britain's major galleries house some of the finest
0:00:04 > 0:00:07collections of art to be found anywhere in the world.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13But there are thousands of other artworks we know little about,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16in the collections of smaller institutions -
0:00:16 > 0:00:20government offices, local museums and country houses...
0:00:21 > 0:00:25..many of them unrecorded and unknown.
0:00:29 > 0:00:35But over 80% of this treasure trove remains locked away in storage.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Lost in this limbo, even works by the biggest names in art
0:00:38 > 0:00:42can fall into obscurity.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44The Art UK website was created
0:00:44 > 0:00:47to shine a light into these shadows
0:00:47 > 0:00:50and now has over 200,000 paintings online.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Using this database, we'll been 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 > 0:01:02When we find a promising painting,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04we'll attempt to uncover its hidden history
0:01:04 > 0:01:07and true brilliance through a meticulous process
0:01:07 > 0:01:10of restoration, research and scientific analysis.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13We'll also investigate the stories of how these works
0:01:13 > 0:01:15made their way into our public collections,
0:01:15 > 0:01:18and what they tell us about where we came from and who we are.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22But finding a painting is just the beginning of the trail.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Our search for lost masterpieces has brought us to Scotland.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44We have several promising prospects from the Art UK website,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47but they all have their roots in warmer climes.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49MUSIC: Casta Diva by Vincenzo Bellini
0:01:57 > 0:02:00They are all connected in some way to Italy.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05And if our hunches are right,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08we might have found an unknown painting
0:02:08 > 0:02:11by one of the giants of art history.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15During the 18th and 19th centuries,
0:02:15 > 0:02:20the British developed a love affair with Italian art and culture.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22It became a rite of passage for wealthy young men
0:02:22 > 0:02:26to undertake a Grand Tour, to complete their education
0:02:26 > 0:02:30by going to contemplate the roots of Western civilisation.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35For many, this was also an opportunity to go shopping,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38and they returned with mementoes of their trip
0:02:38 > 0:02:41in the form of paintings and antique sculpture
0:02:41 > 0:02:43to adorn their mansions back at home.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Some of the most enthusiastic shoppers were Scots,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57who owned the largest landed estates in Britain.
0:02:58 > 0:03:04Half of the private land in Scotland now belongs to some 430 people,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07but these vast holdings were often unproductive,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and did not always make the laird a wealthy man.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Haddo House, 20 miles north of Aberdeen,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20is on the same latitude as Moscow,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24and this remote location has made life challenging at times
0:03:24 > 0:03:26for the Earls of Aberdeen who lived here.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Today, the house is owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36- Hello.- Good afternoon.- Hello, there.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40I'd like to welcome you here to Haddo House in Aberdeenshire.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43My name's Alan, and I'll be your guide
0:03:43 > 0:03:44around the house this afternoon...
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Well, folks, this is the lower north quadrant...
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Despite inheriting substantial debts,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54George Gordon, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58managed to amass one of the greatest art collections in Scotland
0:03:58 > 0:04:00in the 19th century.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04I'll introduce you to the 4th Earl of Aberdeen...
0:04:04 > 0:04:07George Gordon was a cousin of Lord Byron,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10and the family resemblance is particularly noticeable
0:04:10 > 0:04:11in this portrait.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Now, most of our lady visitors vote the 4th Earl
0:04:15 > 0:04:19the best-looking male here at Haddo House.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21And he is quite a hunk, Alan, I have to say.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Gorgeous George.
0:04:23 > 0:04:24SHE CHUCKLES
0:04:24 > 0:04:25I have the guide book here...
0:04:25 > 0:04:27Fantastic, thank you.
0:04:27 > 0:04:28..and a list of the paintings.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Splendid, thank you very much indeed. Lovely.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32You're welcome.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39The Haddo guide book is the usual mix of upstairs and downstairs,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42royal visitors and loyal staff.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46I love it - this is the Queen's bedroom,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49because this is where Queen Victoria stayed on her visit,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52but it was also the place where, during the Second World War
0:04:52 > 0:04:54when this building was used as a maternity hospital,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58apparently more than 1,000 babies were born in these rooms.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Haddo's Palladian design was inspired by
0:05:08 > 0:05:11the 16th-century villas of northern Italy,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13transported to Aberdeenshire
0:05:13 > 0:05:16with very little allowance for the change of climate.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Orphaned at the age of 11,
0:05:20 > 0:05:25George Gordon inherited the earldom in 1801 when he was just 17.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30His childhood was spent in a string of grand houses and he grew
0:05:30 > 0:05:35up learning to love the Classical civilisations of Italy and Greece.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39George made his first visit to Italy when he was still a teenager,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41a sort of gap-year Grand Tour,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44and he developed a passion for the country -
0:05:44 > 0:05:47in particular, for its art and architecture.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55It's a theme that continues inside the house,
0:05:55 > 0:06:00with frequent reminders of Italian sunshine in oil and watercolour.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06George's enthusiasm for all things Italian wasn't unusual at the time -
0:06:06 > 0:06:10but for some people a love of Italy seemed to go much deeper than that -
0:06:10 > 0:06:13the poet Robert Browning would later write,
0:06:13 > 0:06:18"Open my heart and you will see grav'd inside of it - 'Italy'."
0:06:18 > 0:06:21The same could just as easily have been said of George.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27This love affair was frustrated by a lack of funds -
0:06:27 > 0:06:30his grandfather, known as the "wicked Earl",
0:06:30 > 0:06:33had worked his way through the family fortune
0:06:33 > 0:06:36with a string of mistresses and illegitimate offspring.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43George was flat broke - unable to buy the Italian art he adored.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48But somehow, over the next few years,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51George managed to assemble a significant art collection -
0:06:51 > 0:06:55thanks in part to the expertise he acquired on his travels,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58as well as a shrewd nose for a bargain.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Many old masters once hanging at Haddo
0:07:01 > 0:07:04are now in national art collections...
0:07:05 > 0:07:09..but there are a few intriguing prospects still in the house,
0:07:09 > 0:07:11that I had seen on the Art UK website.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15And this is one of the most exciting.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22It's currently listed as a work by a minor Renaissance painter
0:07:22 > 0:07:26called Innocenzo da Imola, but this is a very recent attribution,
0:07:26 > 0:07:31and it seems to me that there's little evidence to support it.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34I think the quality is breathtaking
0:07:34 > 0:07:37and it's far too good to be by Innocenzo.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41But what gives me butterflies in my stomach is the label,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43which says, "After Raphael".
0:07:47 > 0:07:51- Oh, hello, there.- Oh! - What have you found?
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Well, I'm slightly obsessed by this picture hanging over the door.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55- Glorious thing.- Ahh.
0:07:55 > 0:07:56Seemingly tucked away in a corner
0:07:56 > 0:07:59- Have a gander at it through the binos.- Thanks.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02These are essential stately-home viewing.
0:08:02 > 0:08:03Very sensitively done.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Oh, she's gorgeous.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Having looked into it a bit,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09I can tell you this is far, far too good
0:08:09 > 0:08:11to be by Innocenzo da Imola.
0:08:11 > 0:08:12We need to get up close, I think.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15I wonder if they've got a ladder here or something.
0:08:17 > 0:08:18Lovely.
0:08:18 > 0:08:19Keep going.
0:08:20 > 0:08:21Keep going.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25You're in.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Is this what you use for changing the light bulbs?
0:08:27 > 0:08:28Some of them.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Oh, thank you. Right.
0:08:37 > 0:08:38All right, I'm in.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42If there's one thing I've learned to mistrust over the years,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45it's the label on the frame of a painting.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47It's so often a bit of wishful thinking
0:08:47 > 0:08:49by a less-than-expert owner.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53- Raphael...- It does almost look like it did say Raphael before
0:08:53 > 0:08:57- and someone came in afterwards... - Yes.- Doesn't it?
0:08:57 > 0:09:01"After" Raphael suggests that this is a copy by another artist.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Someone stuck in an "after" because they didn't rate the picture.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06- I think they did.- Can you imagine?
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Today, we regard Raphael
0:09:08 > 0:09:11as one of the greatest painters who ever lived.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Along with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17he was part of the holy trinity of the Italian Renaissance.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21It's a picture that really repays spending a lot of time with it,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24- actually, up close.- I mean, it's incredibly beautiful.- Yeah.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26But it's a picture that certainly doesn't want to be hanging
0:09:26 > 0:09:29- above a door in the dark behind a curtain.- Certainly not.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33I can just see a slight alteration to the right hand,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36where the artist has had a change of mind, which is significant,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40because it shows original creative intention,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43and means it's highly likely that this is an original painting,
0:09:43 > 0:09:44and not a copy.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50This painting is a real puzzle.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55Raphael was hugely popular at just the time George was buying pictures,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59and there are many 19th-century copies of his works around,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01but this composition is completely unknown.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Further investigation required.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12Across the room is another painting that caught our attention online.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Quite interested in this landscape here,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17which I have to say that when I first came in here,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20I sort of glided past it. But I think it's really quite interesting.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Yeah, it's a bit dingy on first sight, isn't it?
0:10:23 > 0:10:26The claim on the frame of this one says Claude Lorrain -
0:10:26 > 0:10:28the father of landscape painting.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31But the National Trust aren't sure about this attribution
0:10:31 > 0:10:34because it's also a completely unknown work.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38It's not mentioned in any of the books on Claude.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Quite unusual for a big-name artist like Claude.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44I mean, this is a 17th-century landscape painter
0:10:44 > 0:10:46who revolutionised the genre
0:10:46 > 0:10:49and inspired everyone up to Turner and beyond.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51And to find a new Claude composition, well,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53that would be extremely exciting.
0:10:53 > 0:10:54And the picture is so dirty.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56There's so much yellow varnish.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58You can't actually see at first sight
0:10:58 > 0:11:00- that there is the sunset there. - Oh, gosh, there it is.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03- There's the yellow sun. - Just dipping away behind the hills.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05And there is another little detail here I like.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07See our chap holding up a fish?
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Do you see he was originally fatter?
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Oh, yeah, you can see some flesh-coloured...
0:11:12 > 0:11:14His stomach was coming out and then...
0:11:14 > 0:11:17- They made him a bit more svelte. - Yeah.- More sexy, frankly.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Oh, well, I'm glad he does it for you.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23But all these things add up. It's quite exciting.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26I just find it extraordinary that in a great house like this,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28you know, somewhere that the tide of art history
0:11:28 > 0:11:30hasn't quite reached yet
0:11:30 > 0:11:32because you've got pictures that no-one's published,
0:11:32 > 0:11:33that might be by Claude.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36You've got something that's called "after Raphael" that...
0:11:36 > 0:11:38God knows what that might be.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42George Gordon clearly thought this painting was by Claude.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44But if he was right,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47how has it been completely missed by art historians?
0:11:49 > 0:11:53This is the catalogue raisonne of Claude's paintings, some 250 works,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55recorded in a book published by someone called
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Professor Marcel Roethlisberger,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01a world-renowned art historian and Claude expert.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03We might almost call this the Claude Bible.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05Unfortunately, the painting here at Haddo
0:12:05 > 0:12:08is not included in this book.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09Perhaps more alarmingly,
0:12:09 > 0:12:13the painting is also absent from Claude's own catalogue,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15something he called the Liber Veritatis -
0:12:15 > 0:12:17The Book Of Truth.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Early on in Claude's career, he was worried about other artists
0:12:20 > 0:12:23faking his work, so what he did was he drew a little record
0:12:23 > 0:12:28of all his authentic designs and kept those in a book himself.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30However, I think the painting here could, in fact,
0:12:30 > 0:12:35be a very early work by Claude, from the outset of his career,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38which would make it an extremely rare and exciting discovery.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40And it would also account for the fact
0:12:40 > 0:12:43that it's not included in Claude's Liber Veritatis.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48So, we've got two beautiful paintings from Italy,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50neither of which have left any trace
0:12:50 > 0:12:52on the recorded history of art.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55A sublime Mediterranean landscape
0:12:55 > 0:12:59and a very sensitively painted Renaissance Madonna.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02What they have in common is that they were owned by a very canny man
0:13:02 > 0:13:07with an expensive education who had spent time in Italy studying art.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10He certainly believed
0:13:10 > 0:13:13that they deserved the attributions he gave them.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Our mission is to reinstate the reputation of George Gordon
0:13:18 > 0:13:21as an art collector by restoring the lost attributions
0:13:21 > 0:13:24of these two paintings.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27But one of our problems is the lack of provenance -
0:13:27 > 0:13:30the history of the buying and selling of the paintings
0:13:30 > 0:13:32since they left the artist's studio.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36So we will need to rely only on the works themselves,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38and the story of the man who owned them.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44The National Trust for Scotland have agreed we can take both the Madonna
0:13:44 > 0:13:48and the Claudian landscape away for a full clean and restoration.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56There is one more painting I want to take a look at
0:13:56 > 0:13:58in this corner of Scotland.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02An hour's drive south of Haddo House,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05just across the county border into Angus,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07is the town of Montrose.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10And there's a painting in the Montrose Museum that caught my eye
0:14:10 > 0:14:12on the Art UK website.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18In the storerooms, in a very sorry state,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21is a portrait after Allan Ramsay.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24"After" means it's a copy made by another artist.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Ramsay was the leading portrait painter of his generation,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33a genius of the Scottish enlightenment,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37and he would eventually become "painter in ordinary" to the King.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43I have a hunch that this forlorn picture might not be a copy at all.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46I think it could be by Ramsay himself.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50On first impressions, this painting seems to hold little prospect
0:14:50 > 0:14:53of being by a great painter like Allan Ramsay.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55It's got a massive hole in it for a start,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58almost as if someone has given it an angry kick.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Yet there's something about this face.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07When you're looking for the work of a great portraitist -
0:15:07 > 0:15:10someone like Allan Ramsay - you want to go beyond mere likeness.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14You want to get a feeling of genuine human presence,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16the idea that there's someone there.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23The subject is someone of great significance to Allan Ramsay -
0:15:23 > 0:15:27the man who sponsored his early career, Dr Richard Mead.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33Dr Mead was the most senior medical man in Britain,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36physician to the King and other celebrity patients
0:15:36 > 0:15:38including Sir Isaac Newton,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41who may have consulted him for a fruit-related bruise to the head.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Ramsay painted Mead many times, and there is an identical picture
0:15:47 > 0:15:51to this one in the National Portrait Gallery in London,
0:15:51 > 0:15:53albeit in rather better condition.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58But which is the original, and which is the copy?
0:16:00 > 0:16:05The collections officer for Angus Council, Dr John Johnston,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08gave me a hand digging through the records.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10According to the art historian George Vertue,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13who was a contemporary of Allan Ramsay's,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18there is in fact a lost original of Dr Mead which was painted in 1739
0:16:18 > 0:16:20by Ramsay.
0:16:20 > 0:16:21And in my game, I have to say,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24there's no phrase I like to hear more than the phrase
0:16:24 > 0:16:25"lost original."
0:16:28 > 0:16:30If this version is by Allan Ramsay
0:16:30 > 0:16:34where does that leave the one in the National Portrait Gallery?
0:16:34 > 0:16:38Could ours be the lost original that George Vertue mentions?
0:16:39 > 0:16:41The picture is in such a terrible condition
0:16:41 > 0:16:44that it's difficult to deduce anything at this stage
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and John agrees we can send it off for a bit of tender loving care.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55Our two Haddo pictures have arrived in Edinburgh.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57The National Trust for Scotland
0:16:57 > 0:17:00wanted them to be restored in Scotland,
0:17:00 > 0:17:02and at the conservation studio
0:17:02 > 0:17:04of Owen Davison, the Madonna steps
0:17:04 > 0:17:06into the spotlight.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09You think the underlying condition is pretty sound?
0:17:09 > 0:17:12There are various scattered old retouchings.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16The worst is probably this area on her chin.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21I've found a record from 1841 when this picture was exhibited
0:17:21 > 0:17:24as a Raphael, and I think we can be fairly certain
0:17:24 > 0:17:28that when George Gordon owned it, that's what he believed, too.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32There are two battens that had been cut into the back of the panel
0:17:32 > 0:17:37as supports and one has a very old label attached.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41Raphael or after Raphael? That's the question we're facing here.
0:17:41 > 0:17:42Is it real, or is it not?
0:17:42 > 0:17:43The battens are oak.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48The panel is poplar, so it's likely that these were added
0:17:48 > 0:17:51after the painting had come north to northern Europe.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55- Right.- Because they don't use oak in Italy.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57So far so good.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00The materials seem to be historically correct,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04but now it's time to start applying the restorer's magic solution.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I love watching this process.
0:18:06 > 0:18:07I am fascinated.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Yeah, I don't usually have an audience.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14And the yellow on your swab, that's just the old varnish?
0:18:14 > 0:18:16That's discoloured varnish, yeah.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19Are you able to get an idea of how old this varnish is?
0:18:20 > 0:18:25The degree of discolouration would give you one indication.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29My guess would be maybe 100 years or so for it to be this yellow.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33So that would mean the picture has been restored
0:18:33 > 0:18:36in the late 19th century or early 20th century, most recently.
0:18:36 > 0:18:37I would say so.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Removing the varnish will help us to get
0:18:40 > 0:18:42a proper look at the artist's technique.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48But the subject, the Virgin Mary, was one we know Raphael explored
0:18:48 > 0:18:51many times in paintings very similar to this
0:18:51 > 0:18:52at the start of his career.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56I have to say, it's looking quite encouraging.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01You could say that Raphael had a bit of a thing for Madonnas.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04And George Gordon certainly had a bit of a thing for Raphael.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20George first fell in love with Raphael on his Grand Tour.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26In 1802 when he made his trip, the itinerary was well established,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and the sights people came to see haven't changed.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31It was at this time that the word tourist
0:19:31 > 0:19:35was first used to describe these aristocratic young travellers.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39When George arrived in Florence,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42the sporadic diary he had been keeping just stops.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45He obviously had too many distractions.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51George spent several months in Italy,
0:19:51 > 0:19:53and it fired his imagination.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55For many men of his age and position,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58a Grand Tour was little more than an opportunity for some fun
0:19:58 > 0:20:00away from any disapproving eye,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03but George took it all very seriously
0:20:03 > 0:20:06and he came away with a real passion for the art he'd seen.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18By the beginning of the 19th century, the Italian Renaissance
0:20:18 > 0:20:22had already acquired the hallowed status it has today.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Singled out for particular admiration was the short period
0:20:27 > 0:20:29at the beginning of the 16th century
0:20:29 > 0:20:33when Leonardo and Michelangelo were both working here in Florence.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39In 1504, the precociously talented 25-year-old Raphael
0:20:39 > 0:20:41moved here from his native Perugia
0:20:41 > 0:20:46intent on studying the two great masters he most admired.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50His arrival marked the start of what we now know as the High Renaissance.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Raphael would remain in Florence for just four years,
0:21:01 > 0:21:05but he quickly became as revered an artist as Leonardo and Michelangelo,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07the men he came to learn from.
0:21:09 > 0:21:10The pictures he produced
0:21:10 > 0:21:13responded to a change in the art market at the time.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15More intimate works,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18focused on physical human perfection, became popular.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Duke Federico Gonzaga wrote to his dealer to order a picture
0:21:24 > 0:21:27saying, "I don't want any saints,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31"but rather something lovely and beautiful to look at."
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Churches and religious orders still commissioned large paintings,
0:21:37 > 0:21:42but now private citizens began to buy these smaller devotional works -
0:21:42 > 0:21:44pictures just like the Haddo Madonna.
0:21:48 > 0:21:49While he was in Florence,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Raphael began an almost obsessive exploration
0:21:52 > 0:21:54of the Virgin and child motif.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00He painted at least 17 small Madonnas that we know of,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and if our picture is by him,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05this is the most likely place it would have been made.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12The way Raphael explored the simple subject of a mother and child
0:22:12 > 0:22:16during his time here suggests an interest that goes deeper
0:22:16 > 0:22:18than just fulfilling his commissions.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22He was searching for a beauty and serenity in his subjects
0:22:22 > 0:22:25that became something of a personal journey of discovery,
0:22:25 > 0:22:26and the Haddo picture
0:22:26 > 0:22:30seems to fit into this sequence of paintings very comfortably.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47The National Gallery own one of Raphael's most beautiful Madonnas,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50a picture that was rediscovered in 1992
0:22:50 > 0:22:53by their former director Sir Nicholas Penny.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57The Madonna Of The Pinks was hanging in a corridor at Alnwick Castle
0:22:57 > 0:23:02in Northumberland and its story has much in common with our own picture.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06There's a great story that I found it in a dark corridor.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09And I just want to make it quite clear that actually,
0:23:09 > 0:23:10it was quite a bright corridor.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13And I was invited to stay, and because I had breakfast there,
0:23:13 > 0:23:15I went down this corridor.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18And I thought, what is that picture doing in that frame?
0:23:18 > 0:23:20And this was obviously an extremely expensive frame
0:23:20 > 0:23:23and it said "Raphael" in raised letters.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25A simple act of hospitality
0:23:25 > 0:23:29was to end up netting Sir Nicholas's host, the Duke of Northumberland,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32just under £35 million for the painting.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Was there a sort of light bulb moment where you suddenly thought,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38"Crikey, this is a really good picture"?
0:23:38 > 0:23:40I think I'd go a bit further than that, actually, Bendor.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43I'd say that if something was called a Raphael
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and given a very expensive frame by an extremely important collector
0:23:46 > 0:23:48in the middle of the 19th century
0:23:48 > 0:23:52who was buying on extremely well-qualified advice,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54that picture has to be taken seriously.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56This is all music to my ears,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00as the Haddo Madonna ticks all these boxes.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04It was believed to be by Raphael, it's in an expensive frame,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07and when he acquired it in the early 19th century,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09our George, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12was indeed a respected collector,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15and he would certainly have taken very good advice.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23So how do paintings lose their attributions?
0:24:23 > 0:24:27On whose authority was George's good judgment called into question?
0:24:28 > 0:24:32I'm hoping I can shed some light on this process back at Haddo House
0:24:32 > 0:24:35where I have an appointment to see the archives.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41George Gordon died in 1860, and almost at once,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45his collection began to suffer from sceptical appraisals
0:24:45 > 0:24:50and the loss of its big names when the family was feeling the pinch.
0:24:50 > 0:24:51I met the current Lord Aberdeen
0:24:51 > 0:24:56to look at the inventories of his great-great grandfather's paintings.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01The earliest one that we have here is this one from 1867,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04seven years after the 4th Earl died.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07I mean, clearly the collection has some really stellar pictures,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10that are now in national museums.
0:25:10 > 0:25:11Top of the list,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13we have The Adoration Of The Shepherds by Veronese.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Well, that picture, I think, is now in the Ashmolean Museum -
0:25:16 > 0:25:19and here's Pope Paul II, Emperor Charles V,
0:25:19 > 0:25:20and Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara by Titian,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22which is now in The National Gallery in London.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24£300, that was valued at.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28And it was sold for considerably less than that, I believe,
0:25:28 > 0:25:29by my great-grandmother in...
0:25:30 > 0:25:33- ..probably in the 1890s. - Oh, right.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35- How much for?- I think...
0:25:36 > 0:25:39- From memory, I think it was about 70 guineas.- Oh, dear.
0:25:39 > 0:25:40- Yes.- Something happened.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44There was a degree of fiscal naivete in the family from the 1870s,
0:25:44 > 0:25:45for about 100 years.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Works by Veronese, Titian, and Canaletto
0:25:50 > 0:25:52all went under the hammer,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56and the Haddo Madonna would almost certainly have gone the same way,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00had it not been deemed a copy soon after George's death.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Right, what did they make of the Raphael? Here we are.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06"The Virgin, after Raphael." £80.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08That's 1867.
0:26:08 > 0:26:09And we have this one from 1899.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12Here it is. Number 58.
0:26:12 > 0:26:13"Head Of The Virgin.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16"Small head size, fine copy, after Raphael."
0:26:16 > 0:26:18That's just 20 quid here.
0:26:18 > 0:26:19Well, if that was the real deal,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21- there would be some change, wouldn't it?- Mm.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23I have no doubt at all
0:26:23 > 0:26:26that if that picture had been attributed to Raphael
0:26:26 > 0:26:28and known to have been by Raphael,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31it would have been sold long before this exercise came about.
0:26:31 > 0:26:32I see. Right.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35- And probably for a bargain basement price.- Oh, right.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39'It looks like being valued at 20 quid
0:26:39 > 0:26:42'saved George's possible Raphael.'
0:26:43 > 0:26:46'But how about our other discovery? The possible Claude.'
0:26:47 > 0:26:51'Owen is ready to start removing the old yellow varnish.'
0:26:52 > 0:26:55A blue sky underneath an old yellow varnish
0:26:55 > 0:26:57- would look like a green sky, wouldn't it?- Yeah.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02We are the first people to see it, hopefully, as Claude left it for...
0:27:03 > 0:27:04..hundreds of years.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07I'm hoping that the area round his belly,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10the artist originally made him a little bit plumper.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Then changed his mind, and painted over the...
0:27:13 > 0:27:15- extended tummy.- Yeah.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20- Do you think we dare have a look in the sunset for me, here?- Sure.
0:27:25 > 0:27:26There is the sun.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Just starting to dissolve the old varnish,
0:27:30 > 0:27:35and so that allows us to start to look into the painting a bit more.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38I like the look of that foliage in that tiny tree.
0:27:38 > 0:27:39You can see the branches.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44And a lovely soft light falling on top of the leaves. Wonderful.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46Just in that one small window you've cleaned, there,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49we can begin to see a much more subtle gradation of colours.
0:27:49 > 0:27:50Absolutely, yeah.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54And for a master of painting light, like Claude,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56- that's just what we want to see.- Mm.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Claude's success was built on the languorous warmth
0:28:00 > 0:28:03that seemed to emanate from his pictures.
0:28:03 > 0:28:04In a British drawing room,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06you could almost warm your hands on them.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10They are postcards from the past,
0:28:10 > 0:28:12and at their most seductive,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16his landscapes are a perfect memento of the Roman countryside.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31John Constable described Claude
0:28:31 > 0:28:35as the most perfect landscape painter the world ever saw,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and said his pictures showed the calm sunshine of the heart.
0:28:41 > 0:28:42This is the River Tiber,
0:28:42 > 0:28:44north of Rome,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47and this is where Claude came to find that calm sunshine.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55Claude Gellee was from Lorraine in north-eastern France,
0:28:55 > 0:28:57and, like painters from all over Europe,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00he came to Italy to learn his trade.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Claude's landscapes were almost all imaginary,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07but he created them using on-the-spot sketches
0:29:07 > 0:29:09that he made out in the open air.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11He travelled widely in Italy,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13to Venice, Genoa and Naples,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16but he decided that the Roman campagna,
0:29:16 > 0:29:18the countryside around the city,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21had the perfect combination of light and topography,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23and I think he was spot on.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29His first biographer described how
0:29:29 > 0:29:34"he tried by every means to penetrate nature,
0:29:34 > 0:29:38"lying in the fields before the break of day and until night
0:29:38 > 0:29:41"in order to learn to represent very exactly
0:29:41 > 0:29:43"the red morning sky,
0:29:43 > 0:29:44"sunrise,
0:29:44 > 0:29:45"sunset,
0:29:45 > 0:29:46"and the evening hours."
0:29:50 > 0:29:52What he was really good at
0:29:52 > 0:29:54was creating a sense of incredible depth.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Your eye travels on a seemingly endless journey
0:29:59 > 0:30:02from the foreground to the horizon,
0:30:02 > 0:30:07with hints of hidden places, woods and glades, castles and ruins,
0:30:07 > 0:30:09framed by a distant blue mountain,
0:30:09 > 0:30:11or a tranquil sea.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21For British Grand Tourists,
0:30:21 > 0:30:23there was no better memento of their trip.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27These were Arcadian visions of idyllic summer evenings,
0:30:27 > 0:30:28and they could take one home,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30hang it on the wall,
0:30:30 > 0:30:31and remember.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46George was a one-man cultural phenomenon.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48Not content with seeing Italy,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52he continued his travels through Greece, Turkey and Albania.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57He visited every collection of art and antiquities he could,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01even helping to excavate some archaeological sites himself.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03When he arrived in Athens,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07he found the Earl of Elgin at work removing the Parthenon Marbles.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11George sent back some of his own finds
0:31:11 > 0:31:13on one of Lord Elgin's ships,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16and eventually returned to Britain through Germany and Austria.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21But despite his wanderlust,
0:31:21 > 0:31:25in the end, it was still Italy that George would find
0:31:25 > 0:31:26"grav'd inside his heart".
0:31:28 > 0:31:31His trip would lead to a career in the diplomatic service,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34and his eventual appointment as Foreign Secretary,
0:31:34 > 0:31:35and ultimately, Prime Minister,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38despite, as one colleague commented,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40"an almost ludicrous lack of experience".
0:31:44 > 0:31:47It's somehow fitting that his artistic hero, Raphael,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50is buried here in the Pantheon,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53the only complete structure in the city to have survived
0:31:53 > 0:31:55from Rome's Imperial past,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58and, consequently, a building with an iconic status
0:31:58 > 0:32:00for a classics nut like George.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Increasingly burdened with responsibilities,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10his art collection became a solace to him,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13and owning a Renaissance Madonna, and a Claude,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16would serve as reminders of his gilded youth,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19and those warm summer evenings by the Tiber.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24We've found an auction record
0:32:24 > 0:32:28which suggests that George bought his Claude in 1803,
0:32:28 > 0:32:30immediately after he got back to Britain,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34so it certainly fits the notion that he was seeking a reminder
0:32:34 > 0:32:35of his trip to Italy.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42When George bought his Claude,
0:32:42 > 0:32:47the most successful and popular painter in Britain was JMW Turner,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49and Turner's admiration for Claude
0:32:49 > 0:32:52went far beyond anything George felt.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Hanging opposite each other in the National Gallery,
0:32:56 > 0:32:58as Turner demanded in his will,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01are two paintings that are part of a conversation
0:33:01 > 0:33:04that went on for the whole of Turner's career.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09Dido Building Carthage is an homage to Claude,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11painted on the same scale,
0:33:11 > 0:33:13and using the same composition
0:33:13 > 0:33:16as Claude's Embarkation Of The Queen Of Sheba.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20The first time Turner saw this painting,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23he was such a fan of Claude that he burst into tears.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Turner marvelled at Claude's ability to paint light,
0:33:27 > 0:33:30and he described it as "pure as Italian air."
0:33:33 > 0:33:36He may have got all emotional at the sight of Claude's work,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39but Turner was also a hard-nosed businessman,
0:33:39 > 0:33:41and he was responding to market forces.
0:33:41 > 0:33:42By this time,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46around 150 pictures by Claude were in British collections,
0:33:46 > 0:33:49amounting to half his entire life's work.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Britain was in the grip of Claude-mania.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Although Claude was a Frenchman painting in Italy,
0:33:57 > 0:33:58in London, at the turn of the 19th century,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01he was seen almost as an honorary Brit.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04And such was his influence that country mansions
0:34:04 > 0:34:09used to sit in landscapes inspired entirely by Claude's paintings,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12and any landscape artists who wanted to be sure of selling their works
0:34:12 > 0:34:15was obliged to mimic Claude's seductive mix
0:34:15 > 0:34:18of warm Mediterranean light and classical myths and legends.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Turner painted this picture in 1815.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26In the same year,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Britain finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32and found herself the world's first global super-power.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37Now the British were assembling their own empire,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41Claude's pictures, showing the serenity of empires of the past,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44made it all seem like a terrifically good idea.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52In all the excitement,
0:34:52 > 0:34:54we mustn't forget our other challenge.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56The portrait of Dr Richard Mead,
0:34:56 > 0:34:58"after" Allan Ramsay.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02The picture has safely made the journey to London,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05to the studio of Simon Gillespie,
0:35:05 > 0:35:07who will be restoring the appalling indignities
0:35:07 > 0:35:09it has suffered over the centuries.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13Simon, I think most people would look at this picture,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16and while you and I might say "That's a beautifully painted head",
0:35:16 > 0:35:19they'll go... "There's a massive hole in it."
0:35:19 > 0:35:20It's a horrible hole,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23and luckily I think that the Rips around there we can actually,
0:35:23 > 0:35:25just like a jigsaw puzzle, put them all together,
0:35:25 > 0:35:27and actually there'll be a very slight line
0:35:27 > 0:35:29where we can actually just knit.
0:35:30 > 0:35:31What we do is take off all those things
0:35:31 > 0:35:33that are making those deformations,
0:35:33 > 0:35:35but then we'll get, because of this severe rip,
0:35:35 > 0:35:37we're going to have to support
0:35:37 > 0:35:39the whole of the original canvas with another canvas.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42The quality is very good, but actually the condition, importantly,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45is very good as well, because the two of them together
0:35:45 > 0:35:48will enable us to find out who this is by.
0:35:48 > 0:35:49All right. OK.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53It's got to be by Allan Ramsay, that's the idea.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00The best pictures are sometimes preserved in neglect,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02and I think this has...
0:36:02 > 0:36:05This has been neglected and hasn't been treated by poor restoration.
0:36:05 > 0:36:06So, in other words,
0:36:06 > 0:36:09by not being considered to be an important work by Allan Ramsay...
0:36:09 > 0:36:11- Yes.- ..it has been left...- Yeah.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15..and it hasn't been attended to by cack-handed restoration.
0:36:15 > 0:36:16- Yeah.- Great.
0:36:17 > 0:36:18This is housekeeping.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21- This is taking off the dirt.- Yeah.
0:36:21 > 0:36:22And now we can see into the picture,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25- and it's actually quite a nice shot, isn't it?- Yes.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29In order to make a case for the Ramsay attribution,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32I'd been doing a bit of sleuthing in the journals of his contemporary,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34George Vertue,
0:36:34 > 0:36:38who had actually seen him at work on the original portrait of Dr Mead.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42This is from George Vertue,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45the art historian to whom I am often indebted.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48He says "Ramsay still accustoms himself to draw the faces
0:36:48 > 0:36:50"in red lines, shades, etc...
0:36:51 > 0:36:54"..finishing the likeness in one red colour or mask,
0:36:54 > 0:36:56- "before he puts on the flesh colour."- Perfect.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58- And that's exactly what we've got here.- Perfect.- Isn't it?
0:36:58 > 0:37:00I mean, you can see the red underneath the pink.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02- Yeah.- Pure red in there, isn't there?
0:37:02 > 0:37:04- And red coming through in this. - Yeah.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06This is extremely rare,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09to get a contemporary account from the time the picture was painted,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11- and then to be able to match it up...- Yeah.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13- ..with the technique to the document.- Yeah. Well found.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16It's such a good portrait.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19There's a real person, there. I'm convinced it's by Ramsay.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Being born in Edinburgh was something of a handicap
0:37:23 > 0:37:26for an aspiring painter at the beginning of the 18th century.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30There was no academy of fine art in Scotland,
0:37:30 > 0:37:32and to really learn his trade,
0:37:32 > 0:37:34Ramsay would need to study elsewhere...
0:37:35 > 0:37:37..and thanks to his sponsor, Dr Mead,
0:37:37 > 0:37:41he went somewhere where they had the very best art academies.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44BELLS RINGING JUBILANT
0:37:44 > 0:37:45Italy.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51In fact, making the journey to Italy to complete their training
0:37:51 > 0:37:54was very common for painters from all over Europe.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59This is the little-known flipside of the Grand Tour,
0:37:59 > 0:38:01because after young aristocrats,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04the most frequent travellers were aspiring artists.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09The journey was often made in the company of wealthy patrons,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12but thanks to the generosity of Dr Mead,
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Ramsay could afford to travel independently.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20Like so many other British visitors,
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Allan Ramsay arrived in Rome through these gates.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27It was 26th October 1736,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30and a week earlier, Ramsay had celebrated his 23rd birthday.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41By sponsoring a promising young painter to learn his craft in Italy,
0:38:41 > 0:38:44surrounded by classical and Renaissance splendours,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48it was hoped some of that artistic glory would rub off on them,
0:38:48 > 0:38:51and in Ramsay's case, it worked a treat.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57Working in the studio of an Italian master
0:38:57 > 0:39:01meant that, when he got home, a British painter could knock out
0:39:01 > 0:39:03a fine classical portrait of his patrons,
0:39:03 > 0:39:05or a view of their mansion,
0:39:05 > 0:39:06or landscaped park,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09as if it had been painted by Claude.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17Ramsay was soon living in rooms here, in the Piazza di Spagna,
0:39:17 > 0:39:19at the bottom of the Spanish Steps.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24The area was already becoming a bit of a British ghetto,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27and Ramsay was to set up his own little outpost
0:39:27 > 0:39:30of the Scottish Enlightenment in this corner of Rome.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33According to his friend's diary,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37for three weeks, Ramsay "did little else than scamper about the streets,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39"staring and admiring."
0:39:39 > 0:39:43It's interesting that he was less enamoured by the Raphaels he saw
0:39:43 > 0:39:46than George Hamilton-Gordon would be 70 years later.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49But, ultimately, he was here with a purpose.
0:39:50 > 0:39:51To learn.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01By November 1736, he had settled down to study,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04joining the workshop of a respected painter,
0:40:04 > 0:40:06Francesco Imperiali,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09and enrolling in the drawing class of the French Academy.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16On 15th November,
0:40:16 > 0:40:18he arrived with a letter of introduction,
0:40:18 > 0:40:20but he was so excited to get going
0:40:20 > 0:40:23that he went straight into a life drawing class.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26It's lovely to see here one of the many drawings he made
0:40:26 > 0:40:28while he was in Rome.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33These life classes were probably the first time
0:40:33 > 0:40:37that Ramsay, as a Scot, had drawn from the nude -
0:40:37 > 0:40:39public life drawing was prohibited at home
0:40:39 > 0:40:42due to the objections of the Church of Scotland.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49Ramsay's time in Italy was important in a wider sense for art in Britain.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53He spent three years here, working in Rome and Naples,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56and when he returned, the influences he'd absorbed
0:40:56 > 0:40:58not only changed his own techniques,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01but had a profound effect on British painting.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Ramsay returned to Britain
0:41:05 > 0:41:08infused with the style and technique of the late Baroque,
0:41:08 > 0:41:10and helped introduce to British painting
0:41:10 > 0:41:13what would become known as the "grand manner" -
0:41:13 > 0:41:17adding classical architecture and noble gestures to his portraits
0:41:17 > 0:41:20to suggest the manners and learning of the sitter.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25The portrait of Dr Mead is very much in the grand manner -
0:41:25 > 0:41:29a bust of Sophocles over one shoulder,
0:41:29 > 0:41:31the Greek god of medicine over the other,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and medical textbooks open on the desk.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44The grand tours that artists made
0:41:44 > 0:41:47significantly raised the bar of domestic art in Britain.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52These painters hoovered up the creative culture of Italy
0:41:52 > 0:41:53and carried it home
0:41:53 > 0:41:56where it not only influenced the work of existing artists
0:41:56 > 0:41:58but led to a rash of academies,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02training a new generation in the art of the grand manner.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09Ramsay was to revisit Italy
0:42:09 > 0:42:11many times over the course of his career
0:42:11 > 0:42:16and became himself an accomplished classical scholar and antiquarian,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19as well as one of the most popular portrait painters in Britain.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23The knowledge that he gained from his grand tour
0:42:23 > 0:42:27has played no small part in that success,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31so I imagine Dr Mead felt he got a good return on his investment.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39Simon has spent several weeks
0:42:39 > 0:42:41working on the portrait of Dr Mead...
0:42:43 > 0:42:46..and the results are frankly incredible -
0:42:46 > 0:42:48there is no sign whatsoever
0:42:48 > 0:42:50of the substantial hole in the canvas.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00The acknowledged expert when it comes to Allan Ramsay
0:43:00 > 0:43:02is Dr Duncan Thomson...
0:43:02 > 0:43:04At first glance, they look quite similar.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07..and the National Portrait Gallery have kindly allowed us
0:43:07 > 0:43:10to stage a head-to-head showdown with their version of Dr Mead
0:43:10 > 0:43:14which, up until now, has been considered the original.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20I waited patiently as he had a really good look at them both.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22He doesn't know that ours is on the left.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25That's a much better portrait.
0:43:27 > 0:43:34The moment you home in on the faces, you see, in the picture from Angus,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37a real individual.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42The face, painted with real observation, sensitivity.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46Real contact between artist and subject.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48You look at the NPG painting,
0:43:48 > 0:43:50the first that strikes you, actually,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53is this dead sense within the head.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56It's got the feeling of ceramics.
0:43:56 > 0:44:01Look at the wig - very, very peremptory in its handling.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03- The moment you home in on that head...- Yes.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07..you get the sense of a real individual,
0:44:07 > 0:44:09interacting with the artist.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12Even here, the very delicate handling
0:44:12 > 0:44:16within those little, greenish shadows
0:44:16 > 0:44:18- on that rather plump double chin... - Yes.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21Pure Ramsay handwriting. Pure Ramsay handling.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31This will be very good news for Montrose Museum.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36A place of honour has been found on the walls for Dr Mead
0:44:36 > 0:44:39since he has now become the most significant painting
0:44:39 > 0:44:40in their collection.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42That looks great.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45John Johnston has organised a small gathering
0:44:45 > 0:44:47to hear what we have discovered.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50Now it was always known
0:44:50 > 0:44:52that when Ramsay comes back from Italy,
0:44:52 > 0:44:57he paints a portrait of Mead as a sort of gift, a thank you,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59but it wasn't known where the original was.
0:44:59 > 0:45:00It was thought the original
0:45:00 > 0:45:03was probably the one in the National Portrait Gallery.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07However, I am very pleased to be able to say
0:45:07 > 0:45:10that this is, in fact, that lost original portrait
0:45:10 > 0:45:15and the restoration and the cleaning of the picture has revealed,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18actually, a work of extreme brilliance.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Really very nice to have it back
0:45:20 > 0:45:23and to be able to put it on public display again.
0:45:26 > 0:45:27I feel fantastically privileged
0:45:27 > 0:45:30to be able to rescue works like this picture,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34and see the pleasure it brings to a small institution
0:45:34 > 0:45:36like the Montrose Museum.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39A real treasure of Angus returned to where it belongs.
0:45:39 > 0:45:40Thank you very much.
0:45:51 > 0:45:52With one problem put to bed,
0:45:52 > 0:45:56it's time to turn our attention back to our unassuming star,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58the Haddo Madonna
0:45:58 > 0:46:01and its attribution as a copy "after Raphael".
0:46:04 > 0:46:06Art restoration lore says
0:46:06 > 0:46:09that if there is evidence of the artist changing his mind,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12showing original creative thought,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15then it's unlikely to be a copy, and we have seen that
0:46:15 > 0:46:18in the arrangement of the fingers in this picture.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23However, that still leaves us
0:46:23 > 0:46:26with no direct link to any known Raphael composition.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31So I've come to the Witt Library to explore another avenue.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36I'm here to look at Raphael's drawings,
0:46:36 > 0:46:38in the hope that we can find something a little bit more tangible
0:46:38 > 0:46:41to connect the painting at Haddo House to Raphael himself.
0:46:41 > 0:46:46I have found a picture online of a drawing which, I think,
0:46:46 > 0:46:48looks to be quite close to the painting at Haddo House.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51However, unfortunately, it's a very bad photograph
0:46:51 > 0:46:54and I see in this catalogue online that the drawing is, in fact,
0:46:54 > 0:46:56described as "lost".
0:46:56 > 0:47:00However, fortunately, here in the Witt Library,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03we've found this, which fits compositionally the painting
0:47:03 > 0:47:06at Haddo House really quite precisely.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09The outline of the face is identical.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11The angle of the eyes, the angle of the nose,
0:47:11 > 0:47:12the shape of the head,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15even the folds in the headdress itself
0:47:15 > 0:47:16and the line of the neck...
0:47:18 > 0:47:21..all appears, to me, to match pretty exactly
0:47:21 > 0:47:23the composition at Haddo House.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25It's potentially very exciting.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27If I knew what the Italian was for "game on", I would say it,
0:47:27 > 0:47:29but I don't.
0:47:32 > 0:47:33I looked it up -
0:47:33 > 0:47:35"inizio partita", apparently,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37for those of you wondering.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40But comparing the known Raphael drawing
0:47:40 > 0:47:42to the Haddo painting,
0:47:42 > 0:47:45I'm tempted instead to say "mucca sacra",
0:47:45 > 0:47:47which is "holy cow!"
0:47:51 > 0:47:54The Madonna has been under the infra-red camera
0:47:54 > 0:47:57and the underdrawing it has revealed
0:47:57 > 0:47:59is adding weight to our case.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03It's really beautifully done with a clear and confident line,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07and in just the style we would expect from a genuine Raphael.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11It seems the more we find out,
0:48:11 > 0:48:14the more compelling the evidence for a Raphael attribution.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Owen has now completed the work on the cleaning of the painting
0:48:19 > 0:48:22and some more fascinating details have been uncovered.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Now, just as interesting to a paintings anorak like me
0:48:27 > 0:48:28is the sort of thing we learn
0:48:28 > 0:48:31on the back and the side of the picture.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35This white layer you can see exposed on the edge is the ground layer,
0:48:35 > 0:48:37the first layer of preparation
0:48:37 > 0:48:40that the artist would have put on the wooden panel
0:48:40 > 0:48:42and, in this case, we've analysed it
0:48:42 > 0:48:44and know that it's made of gypsum,
0:48:44 > 0:48:46which is exactly the right type of ground layer
0:48:46 > 0:48:50that artists were using in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53That gypsum ground layer goes out of use
0:48:53 > 0:48:55towards the end of the 16th century.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59The panel - well, this is poplar wood,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02which is the preferred wood of artists in Italy
0:49:02 > 0:49:04in the 15th and 16th centuries.
0:49:04 > 0:49:10Finally, most intriguing of all, is that where someone later on,
0:49:10 > 0:49:11I think in the 19th century,
0:49:11 > 0:49:16has cut some channels in the back of the panel in order to put
0:49:16 > 0:49:20these batons in, because they wanted to stop it warping,
0:49:20 > 0:49:25they have revealed this fascinating little fruitwood insert,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28which the original panel maker would have put in
0:49:28 > 0:49:31when they were preparing the panel for the artist to use.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33In the 15th and 16th centuries,
0:49:33 > 0:49:36they were worried about knots in the wood cracking over time
0:49:36 > 0:49:39so what they used to do was carve out
0:49:39 > 0:49:42a little half centimetre deep channel and put in
0:49:42 > 0:49:44a little plug of wood of a different kind and then they would
0:49:44 > 0:49:48match the grain to the direction of the grain in the panel.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51That is exactly what we have got exposed in this channel here.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Now, none of these things mean that the painting is by Raphael
0:49:54 > 0:49:56or indeed any specific artist,
0:49:56 > 0:49:59but what they tell us is that we can be pretty confident
0:49:59 > 0:50:03that we are dealing with a picture from the right period of history.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10The fruits of George Gordon's travels are most evident
0:50:10 > 0:50:13back at his home in Scotland.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16The landscape we see today was his creation,
0:50:16 > 0:50:19moulding the Aberdeen hills into a Claudian arcadia.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22With a classical urn and some carefully placed lakes,
0:50:22 > 0:50:27he has left us with a reminder of the place he loved best - Italy.
0:50:28 > 0:50:33All of George's many pursuits and enthusiasms, as a statesman,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37art lover and antiquarian, came together in this house,
0:50:37 > 0:50:40and it would be a really wonderful result if we could help restore
0:50:40 > 0:50:42his reputation as a collector
0:50:42 > 0:50:46by reaffirming the status of two of his most significant paintings.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50First up is the Claude.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54We were delighted to discover that Professor Marcel Roethlisberger,
0:50:54 > 0:50:58whose very helpful book on Claude was published in 1961,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01is still the best man to authenticate our picture.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06It is almost like a cliche of Claude, you know,
0:51:06 > 0:51:08this is the kind of thing
0:51:08 > 0:51:13that has been immensely imitated right after him.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17We are so used to the seductive power of a rural landscape
0:51:17 > 0:51:21with a radiant sunset, it's easy to forget that back in art history
0:51:21 > 0:51:23somebody had to invent the cliche -
0:51:23 > 0:51:25that somebody was Claude.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29It breathes beautifully,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33the atmosphere is harmonious,
0:51:33 > 0:51:38the spatial expanse is profound and convincing.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42And the details are there, too.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44And it is very readable.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46So, in this small format,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49it makes a complete universe with this.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51There is no doubt,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55I am convinced this is entirely by the hand of Claude and only by him
0:51:55 > 0:51:59on the evidence of the composition,
0:51:59 > 0:52:03but equally on the evidence of the handling.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08There is a personal handwriting in it and one recognises that.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13These are happy discoveries.
0:52:13 > 0:52:18And that is one of the...effect of English collections,
0:52:18 > 0:52:23that they still have amazing surprises.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33The final act of our restoration drama is the Haddo Madonna.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39It's a bold claim to have discovered a lost work by Raphael
0:52:39 > 0:52:43and confirmation, if it comes, will require far more research,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47technical analysis and consensus among the experts
0:52:47 > 0:52:50than we've had the time or budget for.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56My opinion, for what it's worth,
0:52:56 > 0:52:59is that everything seems tantalisingly right.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01I think it could be by Raphael,
0:53:01 > 0:53:05but we've asked Sir Nicholas Penny to give us his response.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10It's very beautiful. I am very impressed by parts of it.
0:53:12 > 0:53:18The painting of the hair seems absolutely...
0:53:20 > 0:53:22It seems very characteristic indeed.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28The ear, the veil, absolutely what he liked, the modelling,
0:53:28 > 0:53:29the light under the chin.
0:53:31 > 0:53:36The drawing of the face, it is a very distinctive Raphael type.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39Almost exaggerated.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41I mean, the area at the top of the nose
0:53:41 > 0:53:44is more marked than you'd normally find.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49The features are, when you start analysing it,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52you think they are a little lost in the face.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55That is something that you do find in Raphael.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59It's a very big ask for me to ask you to come up here
0:53:59 > 0:54:02and look at a picture and judge it on the basis of connoisseurship
0:54:02 > 0:54:05that this might be by one of the greatest artists who ever lived.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08- HE CLEARS HIS THROAT - Yes. Quite right.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10I have had a cup of coffee...
0:54:10 > 0:54:13If one was to look at the sort of rather,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15perhaps sometimes rigid,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18but formal ways in art history we catalogue these pictures,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21there's a sort of intermediate "attributed to" level
0:54:21 > 0:54:24when we're not quite sure, but we are confident.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26Would you go for attributed to Raphael?
0:54:26 > 0:54:29I have to tell you this, one of my very few achievements
0:54:29 > 0:54:31as director of the National Gallery
0:54:31 > 0:54:33was to abolish the use of the word "attributed".
0:54:33 > 0:54:37I've got the curators at the National Gallery to commit to "by",
0:54:37 > 0:54:38"probably" or "perhaps",
0:54:38 > 0:54:41which are degrees, which I think the public actually recognise.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44So in terms of this picture, "by", "probably", "perhaps"?
0:54:44 > 0:54:48At the moment, where are you going?
0:54:48 > 0:54:52Well, I'm definitely on the "probably".
0:54:52 > 0:54:55Between "probably" and "by".
0:54:55 > 0:55:00I mean, I just want a bit more time and courage.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04- I think that's a result for Haddo, don't you?- Very exciting.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Back at Haddo, the two pictures have been returned,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15and like all the best country house mysteries,
0:55:15 > 0:55:17we've assembled everyone in the drawing room
0:55:17 > 0:55:19to reveal our conclusions.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22Staff from the National Trust for Scotland,
0:55:22 > 0:55:25including our original guide, Alan,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28are joined by Lord Aberdeen, who has come to find out
0:55:28 > 0:55:31if his great-great-grandfather's judgment was sound.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35First up is our Landscape with Fishermen,
0:55:35 > 0:55:39whose attribution has been in doubt for 200 years.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41There was quite a lot of overpaint.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44Now that the varnish and everything has been removed,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47the picture sings in that sort of Claudian harmony,
0:55:47 > 0:55:48which is what got people
0:55:48 > 0:55:50like George, Earl of Aberdeen, so excited.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55We have shown this picture, cleaned, to Professor Marcel Roethlisberger,
0:55:55 > 0:55:57who is the great Claude guru,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00and we now have this confirmed as an early Claude
0:56:00 > 0:56:03from that sort of revolutionary moment
0:56:03 > 0:56:06when he is changing the whole nature of landscape paintings.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09This is one of very few examples from that period.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12We can now be in no doubt at all as to what it is.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15There was one significant alteration,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18which is the belly of the main fishermen here.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20The way the shaft of sunlight
0:56:20 > 0:56:22comes in and catches his tummy
0:56:22 > 0:56:26helps illuminate that focal point of the picture.
0:56:26 > 0:56:31Someone had decided to send him to the gym and had flattened his belly.
0:56:31 > 0:56:36So now that works much more happily as Claude had intended.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40With Claude confirmed as the painter of our landscape,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44we turned to our most audacious attribution -
0:56:44 > 0:56:47the Haddo Madonna probably by Raphael.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53So this lovely Madonna was hanging above the door there looking
0:56:53 > 0:56:55rather yellow and jaundiced.
0:56:55 > 0:57:00In cleaning, we have revealed the most delicate and fantastic
0:57:00 > 0:57:04glazes and colours, especially in areas like the hands here,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07which are really beautifully modelled.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10We showed the picture to Sir Nicholas Penny
0:57:10 > 0:57:13who used to be director of the National Gallery
0:57:13 > 0:57:15and, very pleasingly, he said that this had
0:57:15 > 0:57:18a really excellent chance of being by Raphael.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22Which I think would make it the only publicly owned Raphael in Scotland.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26But, I think, we have done the best we can with the time available
0:57:26 > 0:57:28and the resources we have
0:57:28 > 0:57:32to significantly elevate this picture status.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36I think it is a work of extreme beauty
0:57:36 > 0:57:41and I hope that it does great things for Haddo House.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47It's good to know, with absolute certainty,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50that this little slice of Italian sunshine is by Claude.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54The Haddo Madonna will need further work.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58We have discovered much to suggest it is by Raphael,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02but this is only the start of a lengthy process of attribution.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05- Absolutely exquisite.- Very lucky that it is in such good condition.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07Whatever the conclusions reached,
0:58:07 > 0:58:11Alan will have to revise certain elements of his tour of the house.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17I am so excited, so excited. It will make a big difference to my tour.
0:58:17 > 0:58:23I will be able to speak about the Madonna and hopefully
0:58:23 > 0:58:25by word-of-mouth, we will get many,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28many more visitors here to Haddo House.
0:58:28 > 0:58:30So, I am really excited.