0:00:02 > 0:00:05Britain's major galleries house some of the finest collections of art
0:00:05 > 0:00:07to be found anywhere in the world.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14But there are thousands of other artworks we know little about,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18in the collections of smaller institutions, government offices,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20local museums, and country houses...
0:00:22 > 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 > 0:00:36Lost in this limbo,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40even works by the biggest names in art can fall into obscurity.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46The Art UK website was created to shine a light into these shadows,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50and now has over 200,000 paintings online.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Using this database, we'll be travelling the country,
0:00:53 > 0:00:55seeking out potential lost masterpieces
0:00:55 > 0:01:01lying unrecognised and unregarded in dusty corridors and store rooms.
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 > 0:01:16into our public collections, and what they tell us about
0:01:16 > 0:01:18where we come from and who we are.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22But finding a painting is just the beginning of the trail.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40In 1921, Ireland was divided.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Belfast was the industrial powerhouse of the North.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Her shipyards were the largest in the world,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52when the Titanic was launched.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58But now, the city became the capital of a new state,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00within the United Kingdom.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Among the institutions built to create a sense of community
0:02:06 > 0:02:09for the six counties in the North was the Ulster Museum.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14It inherited a historic art collection and,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17with extraordinary vision and energy,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20set about creating a new artistic identity.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28The museum reopened in 2009 after a major refurbishment,
0:02:28 > 0:02:32and now attracts half a million visitors a year,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34but exhibition space is limited,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36and the art on the gallery walls is only
0:02:36 > 0:02:40a small sample of the wealth of riches in the store rooms.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46We really start in the 17th century, and we go right up to contemporary.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Anne Stewart is the curator of fine art.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53We have a small, but important collection of Old Master paintings,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56but the great strength is 20th century and contemporary
0:02:56 > 0:02:59and Irish, because we have the complete history,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03from the beginning of the 18th century through to contemporary.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07We had a number of promising leads from researching the museum
0:03:07 > 0:03:11collection on the Art UK website, and right at the top of the list
0:03:11 > 0:03:15were a pair of 17th century panel paintings.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20Winter and Spring form part of a well-known set of four seasons,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24originally begun by the Flemish artist, Pieter Brueghel the Elder.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28There are versions by numerous painters in existence,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32but the finest are those by his son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and they are now very sought-after.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36These two, however,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39are listed in the museum database as being after
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Pieter Brueghel the Younger,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45meaning they're thought to be copies made by another artist.
0:03:45 > 0:03:46I'm not sure about that.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Well, and actually, look, here on the frame.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51It looks like at one point they were obviously thought to be
0:03:51 > 0:03:53by Brueghel the Younger himself.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55- Yes. - What's the kind of hierarchy there?
0:03:55 > 0:03:56After is not good, is it?
0:03:56 > 0:03:58- After's not good.- No. - After's not worth much.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01The bottom end of the scale, and then you've got
0:04:01 > 0:04:02workshop of Brueghel the Younger,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05so that's done by pupils or assistants in the workshop,
0:04:05 > 0:04:06but not the man himself.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09- No.- And then obviously you've got autograph, which is,
0:04:09 > 0:04:10is it by the man himself?
0:04:10 > 0:04:13And that's where you get really valuable pictures coming in.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16There are parts of these which I really like.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Look at the depth here of the landscape.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21You almost can feel the wintry air.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24And look - here's someone falling down on the ice.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26A bare cheek.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29A bawdy party up here, in the house.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32But I love this one. This is really good.
0:04:32 > 0:04:33And the Spring is...
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Although Spring's got a few more problems.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38- What's going on in this field here? That looks like a swamp.- Oh, gosh.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41- Look at those sheep. - No, they're rubbish, aren't they?
0:04:41 > 0:04:44But I reckon this has been interfered with by someone else.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45We've got two different skies.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47One is blue and looks quite good and authentic,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50and this looks like someone's put Tippex all over it.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Yeah, what we've got here
0:04:52 > 0:04:56are two pictures that could have been unjustly downgraded.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58'The provenance of a picture,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01'establishing its ownership since it was made,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05'is vital to help us understand why these are thought to be copies.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11'The museum records show they were donated in 1906.'
0:05:11 > 0:05:14This is the daybook for 1906.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Here we go. 1906, number 187.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23"Two specimens, Spring and Winter in oils, ascribed to Brueghel."
0:05:23 > 0:05:26- There.- There we go. Ah, well, actually,
0:05:26 > 0:05:31I think it does say "by Brueghel," underneath in pencil.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35That looks like a B and a Y, and then there's a capital B.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37It looks like people have been uncertain about
0:05:37 > 0:05:41- what these pictures are for some time.- So these came from where?
0:05:41 > 0:05:47W T Braithwaite, and this was really quite a substantial gift in 1906,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51because you can see all the paintings listed here,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55and then quite a lot of other quite interesting material.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59- Oval medallion, ivory netsukes... - Yeah.- Stoneware jug.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02- Yeah. Buddha. - Coffee pot.- Yeah.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06'The contents of this gift suggest an idiosyncratic donor,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10'with a wide range of interests, and a substantial collection.'
0:06:10 > 0:06:12And who was W T Braithwaite?
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Well, he was a local figure in Belfast.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17We don't know a great deal about him.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Well, that could be one line of inquiry for us, I think?
0:06:20 > 0:06:21- Mm. - Yeah.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33In 1906, philanthropic gifts from wealthy individuals like
0:06:33 > 0:06:38Mr Braithwaite were vital. There was no money to purchase works of art,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42and donations were the only way to add to a museum's holdings.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47An art collection develops its own unique character,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51built on the interests of its donors and the life of
0:06:51 > 0:06:52the community it serves.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57The stories of our museums really are the stories of ourselves.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03So who were the big benefactors of the Ulster Museum collection?
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Highlights include a large bequest from the Belfast born painter,
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Sir John Lavery, including portraits of his wife, Hazel,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19whose image was used on the first Irish banknotes.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24There are also some fine depictions of the city's development
0:07:24 > 0:07:28as industrialisation took over from traditional occupations,
0:07:28 > 0:07:29like growing flax.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37'But one thing that surprised me in this collection was the number of
0:07:37 > 0:07:40'early 20th-century British works.'
0:07:40 > 0:07:43That could really only be Stanley Spencer, couldn't it?
0:07:43 > 0:07:45- Yeah. - Presumably this is Cookham?
0:07:45 > 0:07:47We've got here the village that he kept returning to.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50They called him Cookham, actually, at college, didn't they?
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Because when he was studying at the Slade in London,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54- he used to go back home for tea every day.- Right.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58It's a very weird religious scene by the look of it here,
0:07:58 > 0:07:59transposed to the village.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Exactly. The garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal of Christ,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05but transposed back to Cookham.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08This picture, and the many others from the period,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11suggest a donor with a shrewd knowledge of
0:08:11 > 0:08:14modern British painting, but, bizarrely, it turns out that
0:08:14 > 0:08:18he never owned a single work of modern art.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20The benefactor was a wealthy linen merchant,
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Sir Robert Lloyd Patterson, and just like our Mr Braithwaite,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28he gifted his entire collection to the museum.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Robert Lloyd Patterson left to the museum a collection of
0:08:31 > 0:08:36Victorian paintings, which were deemed to not be of museum quality.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40So the quite astonishing step was taken of selling them and using
0:08:40 > 0:08:44the proceeds to buy young, contemporary British artists.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Well, that's very radical.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50And his widow was quite happy for the paintings to be sold and
0:08:50 > 0:08:52the money to be used to buy the young, British artists,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56but she said she would prefer, then, the collection was called after him,
0:08:56 > 0:08:57which was absolutely right.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00So that's why the name is still attached to the collection.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Something a little more in my corner of the forest are a pair of
0:09:04 > 0:09:07monster-size old brown portraits,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11which are described as being by an unknown artist.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12Oh, Queen Mary.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15- I like this one. - A very yellow Queen Mary.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18- Yellow-y green. - Yes, she looks very ill.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19Varnish, being an organic substance,
0:09:19 > 0:09:24goes off after about 50 years, and so you get this sort of yellow hue.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27In the same frame, this must be husband.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- Here he is. - Oh, so these are a pair?
0:09:30 > 0:09:31Lovely.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35William III, obviously, being one of our most distinctive monarchs
0:09:35 > 0:09:39with his huge nose. Not that there's anything wrong with that,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43before you say anything, Jacky, unkind about kings with large noses.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46But didn't Mary...? She cried for a week before they got married?
0:09:46 > 0:09:50I've got to be honest - if this was offered as my future husband,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52I'm not sure I'd be leaping with joy.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56'I'm surprised William and Mary are in storage,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00'because William, Prince of Orange, known as King Billy around here,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04'is a legendary figure for Northern Irish Protestants,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07'lending his name to the Orangemen. It was his victory at
0:10:07 > 0:10:12'the Battle of the Boyne that cemented English rule in Ireland.'
0:10:12 > 0:10:15This is a fine picture, and it's in lovely condition.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Well, I think we can get somewhere with that.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20I think we should follow those up.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24'So, we've now got several mysteries that we need to investigate.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26'Who did paint these two lovebirds?'
0:10:28 > 0:10:31What's the story behind the revolutionary policy
0:10:31 > 0:10:35of buying modern art while the paint was still wet?
0:10:35 > 0:10:37And, most importantly,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40can our two panels AFTER Pieter Brueghel the Younger
0:10:40 > 0:10:43be moved up the artistic pecking order?
0:10:45 > 0:10:49In order to begin to explore the question of who painted these two,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52the Ulster Museum agreed that we can take them away for a full
0:10:52 > 0:10:55scientific analysis and restoration.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59And we'll also start to look into the story of
0:10:59 > 0:11:02the mysterious philanthropist, Mr W T Braithwaite.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08But, before we do that, on the other side of the city
0:11:08 > 0:11:12there's one more artistic conundrum we've uncovered -
0:11:12 > 0:11:16a disagreement over a painting that's been festering for decades.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20The controversy began soon after Belfast became
0:11:20 > 0:11:23the capital of Northern Ireland. There was a great flurry of
0:11:23 > 0:11:27building activity, as the city scrambled to find room for all
0:11:27 > 0:11:29the new institutions of state.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Perhaps the most immediate need was met by the new parliament buildings
0:11:37 > 0:11:40at Stormont, which were opened in 1932.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46It is an impressive building in a powerfully dominant natural setting,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49and fiercely emblematic of the new state.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56Inside, the long stone corridors felt very empty, and the hunt began
0:11:56 > 0:12:00for some equally monumental and emblematic art to hang on the walls.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05- Hmm. Nice picture. - Mm.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09'This picture was bought for Stormont, sight unseen, from a
0:12:09 > 0:12:14'London auction in March 1933, because it purported to show
0:12:14 > 0:12:18'William III in Ireland, before the Battle of the Boyne.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21'Just the sort of thing to stir an Orangeman's heart.'
0:12:22 > 0:12:25They haven't spotted that up in the sky there is the Pope,
0:12:25 > 0:12:31apparently giving his blessing over the Protestant King William III.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34So why would the Pope be blessing a Protestant king he's defeated?
0:12:34 > 0:12:36- Well, quite.- I mean, I know they say, "Is the Pope Catholic?"
0:12:36 > 0:12:38but he really was a Catholic.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41'The controversy was immediate.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45'Questions were asked in the House by furious Unionists,
0:12:45 > 0:12:50'who objected to the Pope being shown above the revered King Billy.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53'But worse was to follow two months later.'
0:12:53 > 0:12:55I have an amazing picture here that I have to show you.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Councillor Forester is this chap in the middle,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and this is Mary Ratcliffe,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02who was the wife of a leading Scottish Protestant.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06They make a little trip to Woolworths on their way to Stormont,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09where they pick up some red paint and a knife,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12and she takes the knife, gets close to the picture,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15and hacks away at the bottom of the canvas here.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18- Wow.- Quite serious damage, by the look of it.- Very.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21And he, in the meantime is flinging red paint up there at the top,
0:13:21 > 0:13:25over the Pope. This guy, some sort of a hermit,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28you can see his elongated finger here,
0:13:28 > 0:13:30apparently originally - it's been painted out -
0:13:30 > 0:13:32there was a rosary hanging from that finger.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36- Ah, OK.- So they've gone straight for the most Catholic symbols
0:13:36 > 0:13:38in this whole picture.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43The scratch from Mary Ratcliffe's knife is still visible in the
0:13:43 > 0:13:45marble wall where the picture hung.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49As a result of this incident, the painting became notorious.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53It was removed from public view, and is still one of the highlights
0:13:53 > 0:13:55of a trip behind the scenes at Stormont.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01But can we finally unlock the secret of its origins?
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Is this really William III,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08and, if so, why is he being led by a Catholic hermit?
0:14:08 > 0:14:13And what's the meaning of the flag with its crown and crossbow?
0:14:15 > 0:14:18It's not going to be easy. If this was a Sudoku puzzle,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20it would be on the "fiendish" level,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23but I just feel the answer is waiting to come out here.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Helping us to find the answers to the puzzles hidden in
0:14:31 > 0:14:34all our paintings is picture restorer, Simon Gillespie.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41The most powerful testimony to the past life of a work of art
0:14:41 > 0:14:44always comes from the painting itself, and with a battery of
0:14:44 > 0:14:49modern scientific tools, but most importantly an expert eye,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53and a forensic touch, Simon will help us find the evidence we need.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58The two panels, thought to be copies
0:14:58 > 0:15:01of the work of Pieter Brueghel the Younger,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04have arrived from Northern Ireland.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06I think Winter is the better one of these two.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08Certainly in terms of its condition.
0:15:08 > 0:15:09You've got a lot of overpaint on this.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11It's so thick, you can't really see through it,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14so there's going to be a reason for it.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18You can see it's spreading all over the place.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20All of the trees are painted over.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23When you get down here, you can actually see some really nice,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26clear, uninterfered with, drawings.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28- Look at his boot and the flowers. - Mm.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33- You know, this peculiar man here. - I love him, he's my favourite.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35I agree. He's got a lot of character. He's been told off by
0:15:35 > 0:15:39his wife, though, for planting his carrots in the wrong place.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43This panel is in much better condition.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47You can see all the branches of the trees are all in perfect condition.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50They've not been over-cleaned or washed away.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- Same thing down here. - Mm.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55Some great parts to it. Great drawing.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58He's a very confident draughtsman, although he may not have been
0:15:58 > 0:16:01terribly adventurous in making up his own compositions.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Other versions of Winter by Brueghel the Younger are signed
0:16:06 > 0:16:09- in this corner.- OK.- Which is precisely where we've got
0:16:09 > 0:16:11a large blob of over-painting, so...
0:16:11 > 0:16:14- There it is, yeah. - Go carefully in there, Simon.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21'Next, we look at the pictures under ultraviolet light.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25'This allows us to very clearly see the organic decay of the paint.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29'More recent pigments appear darker than the older, original paint.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34'The results on the Ulster Museum panels are very clear,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37'meaning the over-painting is a relatively recent attempt
0:16:37 > 0:16:39'to repair older damage to the pictures.'
0:16:39 > 0:16:43So you've got this - what looks like chickenpox up here.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47This is an earlier layer of repaint.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49That's why that sky looks so heavy.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51It's sitting on top of the landscape.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55You see the green layer here, with the ultraviolet.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57This is where old varnish has been left on,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00and that also has an effect on muddying the surface
0:17:00 > 0:17:03of the picture, and making everything look very flat.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09'The ultraviolet has confirmed that, whoever painted these pictures,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12'they've been subjected to more than one clumsy restoration attempt
0:17:12 > 0:17:14'in the past.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19'The next part of our physical examination is to remove the panels
0:17:19 > 0:17:22'from their frames, and have a look at the back and the sides.'
0:17:24 > 0:17:28- Bloody hell! - Well, well, look at that.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30Oof. It's not what I was expecting, Simon.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Well, it doesn't look like a Flemish panel, does it?
0:17:33 > 0:17:34Oh, I don't like this at all.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43- Let's just bring it over there. - MDF? It IS MDF!
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Bloody hell! What are we doing? Is this some massive fake?
0:17:49 > 0:17:52'I have to admit, I was shocked to see this,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56'but Simon recognised the handiwork of a member of his own profession.'
0:17:57 > 0:17:58It's not a fake, no.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00This is the panel.
0:18:00 > 0:18:08The original panel has had two big damages where the panel has broken,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11and it's then been, in an attempt to repair it,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14the panel has then been thinned down, and then backed,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17but with a new piece of wood on the back.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20So the original panel is just this couple of millimetres here?
0:18:20 > 0:18:23- It's about three or four millimetres there, yes.- Right.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26'Fortunately, when the back came off the winter panel,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28'it was in a better condition,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30'and had not needed such drastic attention.'
0:18:30 > 0:18:32That's what I would expect to see.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33This is what we call a cradle.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37This contraption is there to flatten out the bowing panel and in
0:18:37 > 0:18:40the 19th century, this would have been put on to make it flat.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42Nobody wanted bowing panels.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44At least it doesn't look as though it came from B&Q about 20 years ago.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46That's right, yeah.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48- OK? - Let's prop it up over here.
0:18:51 > 0:18:52And you can see...
0:18:52 > 0:18:53- Same deal? - The same deal.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56The panel HAS been thinned down, which is a shame.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59And also, it's got over-paint going over the side here.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01Look. This is a house painter again.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03It proves how much over-paint there is on top of it,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05and how clumsy and how silly it is.
0:19:13 > 0:19:14Back in Belfast,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18I'm hunting for information on the man who donated the paintings -
0:19:18 > 0:19:23along with many others - to the Ulster Museum in 1906 -
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Mr W T Braithwaite.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29He was the founder of a pub chain called Braithwaite and McCann.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33He never married, and lived by himself in a rather
0:19:33 > 0:19:36rough part of town, looked after by two housemaids.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41I found this picture of him, and he certainly looks idiosyncratic,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44in his Freemason's regalia and rather unusual beard.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Like his contemporary, Sir Robert Lloyd Patterson,
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Braithwaite donated a substantial collection to the museum,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55but while Lloyd Patterson's name lives on,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Braithwaite's is largely forgotten today.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03He seems to have been quite an interesting character,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05but not your typical art connoisseur.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09His obituary tells us an awful lot.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12He was a Belfast bigwig, involved in the Water Board.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15He was a publican. This was his very first pub.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19He was an expert angler and rifle shot, a Freemason,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23and founder of the Widows Fund for the Loyal Orange Order.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27It seems to me that he was a real mix of the showman and the loyal
0:20:27 > 0:20:31civic servant, and, most significantly for us, he lived
0:20:31 > 0:20:35at a time when there was a huge change in attitudes to public art.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Art collecting has always been the preserve of an elite,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46and though Braithwaite was a self-made man, he was wealthy enough
0:20:46 > 0:20:49to have built up a respectable collection of artworks.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53Significantly, he was also a member of the town's leading cultural
0:20:53 > 0:20:58institution - the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01a private club where members displayed collections of art
0:21:01 > 0:21:04and antiquities, giving lectures, and publishing papers.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Britain was undergoing rapid social change at the time.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14Throughout the 19th century, successive factory acts limited
0:21:14 > 0:21:18hours of work, and Sunday became a compulsory day of rest.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23For many working-class poor, this was the first time in history
0:21:23 > 0:21:27they'd had any time off, and they began to find new ways to enjoy it.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Municipal authorities like Belfast began to regard
0:21:32 > 0:21:36publicly accessible art as a way to encourage the working classes
0:21:36 > 0:21:40to spend their new free time educating themselves,
0:21:40 > 0:21:43but the city had no permanent collection of its own,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47and could only stage exhibitions of art borrowed from London.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58As the owners of the largest collection of art in town,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01members of the Philosophical Society were keen to support the new
0:22:01 > 0:22:06enthusiasm for public access, and at the annual meeting in 1906,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08in a surprising act of philanthropy,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12they took the decision to give away their entire collection
0:22:12 > 0:22:13to the Municipal Museum.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18- Hello.- Come in. - Thank you so much.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23'Their building has survived, and, I was pleased to discover,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25'so has the Philosophical Society.'
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Wow. What an atmospheric place.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36There are lots of interesting ghosts, including W B Yeats.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41'Over an impromptu lunch provided by Society stalwarts,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44'Angelique and Brian, we looked through the minutes
0:22:44 > 0:22:46'from the 1906 annual meeting,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50'at which one of the most vocal members was William Braithwaite.'
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Braithwaite is an important member at that stage.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56He supports the transfer of this property to the
0:22:56 > 0:22:58municipal authorities for a greater public use.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00So, tell me, what was the exact date?
0:23:00 > 0:23:0327th of September 1906.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06That's just five days after he handed his collections over
0:23:06 > 0:23:09to the museum, so he'd already... He'd just done that,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11at the moment where these motions were passed.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Yes, yes. That's very interesting. I mean, I think, 20 years earlier,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17he might well have given the collections to our museum,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20because he was a member, but things have changed.
0:23:20 > 0:23:21We now have a new climate,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25a feeling that really greater public access is what's desirable,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and free, open museums are what we need.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33It seems clear that Braithwaite was a key driver of the new mood.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36In one week, he gave away his own collection,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and then encouraged the Society to do the same.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45But, if the Philosophical Society no longer had anything to display,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47had it now lost its very reason to exist?
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Braithwaite seconds a motion asking that the society now considers
0:23:53 > 0:23:58very seriously its future, and make sure it retains a future role.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Now its collection's been handed over, it must reconsider
0:24:00 > 0:24:03its objectives, but continue with the founding aims of the people
0:24:03 > 0:24:06who established this museum.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11This was very perceptive of Mr Braithwaite.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15His concerns about the future role of the society were well-founded.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19Once the collections had gone,
0:24:19 > 0:24:23this grand old building struggled for an identity.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31So, if I'd have looked out of this window when this building was built
0:24:31 > 0:24:32in 1831, what would I have seen?
0:24:32 > 0:24:36We looked out on a beautiful square, with fine houses all the way round.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39In our Troubles in the 1970s,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43this area was very badly hit. There were bombs here,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45there was a lot of unrest in this part,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49and this area really became rather rundown and desolate.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52But there's been a great revival, and we think that the future of this
0:24:52 > 0:24:54building is important for the street, important for Belfast.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Braithwaite was a modest man, declining any honours,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04quietly pursuing his various hobbies.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Wherever he's mentioned in the records,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08people remark on his generosity.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11As an art connoisseur,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Braithwaite's donation of his collection to the
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Municipal Art Gallery is the last we hear about him,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20but he remained a staunch pillar of Belfast society.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22I found this fantastic photograph of him,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24having just won a marksmanship contest.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28He was known popularly as "Bull's-Eye" Braithwaite for his
0:25:28 > 0:25:31prowess with a rifle, but was his judgment of our two
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Brueghel pictures equally on target?
0:25:43 > 0:25:47If we're to prove Braithwaite right, we will need to establish how well
0:25:47 > 0:25:50the pictures he donated compare to works we know to be from
0:25:50 > 0:25:53the workshop of Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58And the best place to start is in his home city - Brussels.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05He was part of an extended artistic dynasty.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Many of his brothers also followed the family trade,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11but the man who first broke the name Brueghel to artistic prominence
0:26:11 > 0:26:14was their father - Pieter Brueghel the Elder.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21He was a master at depicting the daily life of
0:26:21 > 0:26:24the villages of Flanders, what are called genre paintings,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27full of incident and observation.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31This little landscape might at first seem rather modest,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34but if I tell you it was probably the first depiction of
0:26:34 > 0:26:38a winter scene in European art, and that in the years following,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41we know of over 100 copies that were made of it,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43then you might get an idea of just how revolutionary
0:26:43 > 0:26:46an artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder was.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52All the elements that made Brueghel successful are in this painting.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56His extraordinary eye and painterly delight in the details
0:26:56 > 0:27:01of everyday life. The bird trap, which gave the picture its name,
0:27:01 > 0:27:05is almost an afterthought - an old door propped up by a stick.
0:27:06 > 0:27:12The copies rarely captured the expressive genius of this original.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Many of those copies were made by his son,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Pieter Brueghel the Younger, who more or less set up a factory
0:27:17 > 0:27:20just to make copies of his father's paintings.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22The Elder Brueghel did not train the Younger.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25He was only five when his father died,
0:27:25 > 0:27:30but he inherited a name and a legacy, the Brueghel brand,
0:27:30 > 0:27:32that he set out to exploit.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44He had certainly inherited his father's mastery of beautifully
0:27:44 > 0:27:49painted detail, if not the inventive genius for original composition,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51but that didn't matter.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54He already had a stock of images to work with,
0:27:54 > 0:28:00and the stamp of authenticity that went with the illustrious surname.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04A few kilometres away, in the town of Lier, the local museum has
0:28:04 > 0:28:08an exhibition of works which all relate in some way to the Brueghels.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11It's called Brueghel Land.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15If Pieter Brueghel the Younger was running a factory,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18then this place would be the outlet shop.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21This is a Brueghel the Younger copy of one of his dad's
0:28:21 > 0:28:24most famous pictures - The Proverbs.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26This copy was painted in 1607.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30The original was made almost 50 years earlier, in 1559,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32and it's such a fascinating picture.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36I think it allows us to understand why such pictures were so popular,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39and how Brueghel the Younger could make a whole career out of
0:28:39 > 0:28:41copying the work of a father he barely knew.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43There are 87 proverbs in here.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46I'm not going to go through them all, I'll just pick out a few.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Here is someone swimming against the tide.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Down here, we've got someone burying the hatchet.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55And, down here, we've got someone
0:28:55 > 0:28:58banging their head against a brick wall.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01And here's someone who's fallen between two stools.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04But these compositions were so popular that Brueghel the Younger
0:29:04 > 0:29:07never felt any need to artistically develop his style.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09He just carried on churning them out.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10Here is another copy of The Proverbs,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13made some 20 years later, almost identical.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17Although these are faithful copies, there's a great deal of
0:29:17 > 0:29:20individualism in the way they're painted.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23Brueghel the Younger employed many assistants in his factory
0:29:23 > 0:29:26to help him keep up with the demand for his father's work.
0:29:26 > 0:29:31He was competing in a lively market, and he put a great deal of effort
0:29:31 > 0:29:34into ensuring his copies were the best.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38At the end of the process, however, the works were all signed and sold
0:29:38 > 0:29:42as Brueghels. He didn't have a monopoly, though.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46This set of all four seasons, by a painter called Abel Grimmer,
0:29:46 > 0:29:47is a poor effort.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51Flat and lifeless, the figures awkward.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53But, for contrast,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56just look at this version of his father's Census at Bethlehem,
0:29:56 > 0:30:00transposing the Christmas story to a snowy Flanders village.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02It's beautifully painted.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06Here's everyone gathering round, having their names checked.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08You can see they're passing over the right money,
0:30:08 > 0:30:12and the fur on the census keeper's jacket can be discerned.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Another thing I've just noticed, which is very like our picture,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19is these figures skating on the ice. You can see the way that
0:30:19 > 0:30:22they are drawn in is very almost calligraphic.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24And there's a lovely feeling of movement around each figure.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26It's a little bit like a cartoon.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29You sort of can feel that they're about to spring into life.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33And we've got just the same thing in our skaters in our picture.
0:30:33 > 0:30:35There's no denying the quality of these pictures.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37They really sing and they sparkle.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41I love this group of figures huddled round the fire here.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43And, because they're so well drawn, their postures are perfect.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47You get a real sense that they're fighting to keep out the cold
0:30:47 > 0:30:48on a winter's day.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53If Simon's cleaning reveals this kind of detail,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56we'll be in a good position to attribute our panels
0:30:56 > 0:30:58to Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09The Ulster Museum building is in a beautiful setting,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12in the city's Botanical Gardens.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Construction got underway in the 1920s,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18driven by the same urgent need for new institutions of state
0:31:18 > 0:31:20that produced the Stormont Parliament.
0:31:22 > 0:31:28The museum was opened in 1929, or to be precise, half of it was.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34The original scheme was only partly finished when the money ran out,
0:31:34 > 0:31:38and the extension wasn't added until the 1970s.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46This must be one of the most successful mash ups
0:31:46 > 0:31:50between Neo-Baroque and Brutalism anywhere in the world.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53I love it. And that mix of the new and the old
0:31:53 > 0:31:57is particularly appropriate here, because, since the 1920s,
0:31:57 > 0:32:01the museum has, alongside its historic objects,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04amassed one of the great collections of modern art.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11The radical purchase of modern British works,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14with the money bequeathed by Robert Lloyd Patterson,
0:32:14 > 0:32:18began at exactly the moment the new museum was being constructed.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24The policy was the brainchild of the curator of the Ulster Museum,
0:32:24 > 0:32:26a man called Arthur Dean,
0:32:26 > 0:32:29who had some revolutionary ideas for the time.
0:32:31 > 0:32:32He was a pioneer, basically,
0:32:32 > 0:32:36in the whole field of museology as we know it today.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40In the Victorian times, when the museum was even set up in 1890,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43they didn't actually believe that they should be buying what was
0:32:43 > 0:32:46being made by artists and artisans of the day.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49And, when he came in, from his background in Warrington, he
0:32:49 > 0:32:53basically said "Look, we should be buying art that is important now."
0:32:53 > 0:32:56And, you know, that's what we continue to do today.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00If he wasn't an art expert himself, who did he go to for advice?
0:33:00 > 0:33:04He would have been looking to the dealers in London, and the galleries
0:33:04 > 0:33:08in London, looking to see who would have been really the hot property
0:33:08 > 0:33:11at that time, and who we should be buying.
0:33:11 > 0:33:17But also, he was very good at talking to members of the public
0:33:17 > 0:33:20who were collecting art, and that's also why we got a lot of donations
0:33:20 > 0:33:23at that time, of incredibly good art,
0:33:23 > 0:33:25whether it was historic or contemporary.
0:33:27 > 0:33:29Anne took me to see some more pictures from
0:33:29 > 0:33:32the Lloyd Patterson collection.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35The passage of time has proved that the works bought
0:33:35 > 0:33:39with Sir Robert's money were extremely well-chosen.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Would Lloyd Patterson have turned in his grave had he known that
0:33:41 > 0:33:45- his pictures would be sold?- I think he'd have been very surprised.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47And now this is a really special picture.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49A huge Duncan Grant.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53Really ambitious, and unusual to be working on that scale.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57And really arresting, it's the period at Charleston.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00So this is the house in Sussex that Grant and Vanessa Bell and various
0:34:00 > 0:34:03of the Bloomsbury group were hanging out in.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05- Exactly.- In the wartime, actually, in the First World War.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07- Is that right? - Exactly, exactly.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10And putting art at the centre of their lives.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13I love this. Is this presumably Vanessa Bell here, painting?
0:34:13 > 0:34:14- Yes. - And who's the chap at the table?
0:34:14 > 0:34:18David Garnett, who's translating Dostoyevsky.
0:34:18 > 0:34:19Oh, I love it. I love it!
0:34:19 > 0:34:23- With Russian dictionaries.- With that idea and art and life completely,
0:34:23 > 0:34:24not even colliding,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28but just unified in this incredibly peaceful interior, while you get
0:34:28 > 0:34:30a little sense of the world outside.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Yes. Just that tiny fragment of the top window...
0:34:33 > 0:34:35- That sliver of sky. - Yeah.- Yeah.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Back in Simon's studio in London,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47the Ulster Museum panels have been given a preliminary clean,
0:34:47 > 0:34:52and we're ready to start removing the over paint.
0:34:52 > 0:34:53I know it's optimistic,
0:34:53 > 0:34:55but shall we try the area where we might find the signature?
0:34:55 > 0:34:58That IS optimistic.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Ooh. Um... On the swimmer.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06The water's changing colour to a grey...
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Yeah. We have original.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14- Brilliant.- But I cannot see any remnants of any letters.
0:35:14 > 0:35:15- No. - It's a shame.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20These little sheep are supposed to be here,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22but I think they're going to be a little bit embarrassed
0:35:22 > 0:35:25with all this grass around them. All the grass is coming off.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28This is actually quite good news,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31because it's not a massive damage underneath here.
0:35:31 > 0:35:36It's the same type of restoration you see when a tiny little damage
0:35:36 > 0:35:40has occurred, and then you get out of control repainting.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43So it looks like the grassy field is changing colour a bit.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48Into a sort of grey blue.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52Oh, look at that. And that fence is so beautiful now.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55- With a different light behind it. - Yes, and look at the green there.
0:35:55 > 0:35:56That's the same green as over there.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59- We're talking now! Look at that. - Yeah.- What are these things?
0:35:59 > 0:36:03- Are they little chickens or something?- Are they chickens?
0:36:03 > 0:36:04There's the typical wind vane.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06Big fluffy tail, head.
0:36:09 > 0:36:10Poor Brueghel chickens.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14They've been unnecessarily covered up for no reason at all.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21You can begin to see just how much of an improvement
0:36:21 > 0:36:24we're going to be getting out of this clean.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33As so many versions of these pictures exist,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37they regularly appear in the auction showrooms.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40So, if I want advice on how to spot a real Brueghel,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42this is a good place to find it.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46Brueghel was prolific,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50so we see paintings brought in to us pretty much on a weekly basis.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55You have sold genuine Brueghel the Youngers, of Spring And Winter.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58And to my optimistic eye, perhaps,
0:36:58 > 0:37:01I think I can see some similarities with our picture.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04He's one of these artists that worked often to a formula,
0:37:04 > 0:37:10and so you can measure a painting's likelihood of being by Brueghel.
0:37:10 > 0:37:11- Yeah. - What has helped us most
0:37:11 > 0:37:17is the advent of high-definition infrared reflectography,
0:37:17 > 0:37:22which allows us to look beneath the surface of the paint
0:37:22 > 0:37:24- at the preparatory underdrawing. - OK.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26And this has been revolutionary.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28In a Brueghel the Younger underdrawing,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31what are the telltale signs you're looking for?
0:37:31 > 0:37:35Well, what we're looking for when we look beneath the surface
0:37:35 > 0:37:39is evidence of Brueghel's tracing method.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41They traced with a free hand.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45- Right.- So there's an element of creativity within the tracing.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47- I see.- It's rather difficult to put into words.- OK.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51But once you've seen it once in a securely attributed work,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54it can be easier to recognise it again in another work.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04In order to establish if there is any evidence of the free hand
0:38:04 > 0:38:07underdrawing that Andrew highlighted as the sign of a
0:38:07 > 0:38:11true Pieter Brueghel the Younger, we take the panels to be scanned
0:38:11 > 0:38:13by an infrared camera.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Watching the results appear, I was fascinated to see
0:38:28 > 0:38:31the painstaking amount of detail that emerged.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Seeing a little bit of a roof.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37Dr Nicholas Eastaugh has peered beneath the surface
0:38:37 > 0:38:41of many genuine works by Brueghel the younger.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Does he recognise anything of Brueghel's working methods
0:38:44 > 0:38:45in our pictures?
0:38:45 > 0:38:48I think these are showing a lot of typical features of
0:38:48 > 0:38:51Brueghel the Younger workshop practice.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Very often, there's very, very detailed underdrawing
0:38:55 > 0:38:58in these paintings. They obviously planned them out in a lot of detail,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01even if there are multiple versions of paintings,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03you'll still find this freely drawn.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06It's not transferred from a cartoon, say.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09- They're all individual. - Really? That's fascinating.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Even down at this level,
0:39:12 > 0:39:14- they're all individually characterised.- Yes.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Another distinctive sign of Brueghel practice is the streaky manner in
0:39:20 > 0:39:25which the very first layer of paint, the ground layer, has been applied.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28You can see the horizontal streakiness,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31and then at the edges it's going vertically,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34as if they were brushing across and then tidied up the ends.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38It shows up very well on infrared because there's usually a little bit
0:39:38 > 0:39:40- of carbon black mixed in. - Right.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42This is an important feature to find.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45It's very, very typical of the Brueghel the Younger workshop.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48It's something that we find quite commonly in these paintings.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Modern scientific techniques are wonderful to have, but some
0:39:51 > 0:39:55paintings give up their secrets without us doing any tests at all.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00We still have two unsolved cold cases on the books,
0:40:00 > 0:40:04involving local hero King Billy, William III to you and me.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07The Stormont picture is one,
0:40:07 > 0:40:11but we also have to tackle those two enormous brown portraits
0:40:11 > 0:40:13in the Ulster Museum stores.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16There is no doubt who the sitters are,
0:40:16 > 0:40:19but who is the unknown artist who painted them?
0:40:24 > 0:40:28I hope we can clear that question up using an old-fashioned resource
0:40:28 > 0:40:32like the Heinz archive, here at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37There's no search engine to find my way through THESE folders.
0:40:44 > 0:40:50I am absolutely unable to resist a portrait that's described
0:40:50 > 0:40:52as being by an unknown artist,
0:40:52 > 0:40:54especially of such an important sitter like William and Mary.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Because there are various ways that you can actually begin to deduce who
0:40:57 > 0:41:00the artist is when you're dealing with such an important sitter.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02And this is how we do it.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22Well, the bad news is I've been through several hundred
0:41:22 > 0:41:24reproductions and engravings
0:41:24 > 0:41:26of William III portraits and Mary portraits,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29and there's no direct match at all to the pictures in Ulster Museum.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32It looks like the pictures in Ulster have never been published or
0:41:32 > 0:41:34reproduced or mentioned before anywhere, so they are really,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37really unknown portraits. When you're a busy monarch,
0:41:37 > 0:41:42you didn't always have time to sit to every artist that was around.
0:41:42 > 0:41:43The solution was simple -
0:41:43 > 0:41:46if a painter couldn't get a sitting with the Royals,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49they would copy the work of an artist who had.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52And what I've got here is a portrait
0:41:52 > 0:41:56by quite a famous Dutch artist, called Caspar Netscher.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58Which is not a match to the portrait in Ulster Museum,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01but the head is a match.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03So why stop at the head?
0:42:03 > 0:42:07Well, if you wanted people to think you'd painted this all by yourself,
0:42:07 > 0:42:10you didn't want it to look exactly like someone else's picture.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15Whoever painted the pictures in Ulster has copied the head from this
0:42:15 > 0:42:19picture by Caspar Netscher and plonked it on to a different body.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23So, which body? Well,
0:42:23 > 0:42:28this body, here, in an engraving by an artist called Jan Verkolje.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30So is Jan Verkolje our artist?
0:42:30 > 0:42:35Possibly. Did he copy Mary from Caspar Netscher as well?
0:42:35 > 0:42:37It would seem not.
0:42:37 > 0:42:43Well, the head type is not Caspar Netscher's head type.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48So, the head in the Mary portrait actually derives from
0:42:48 > 0:42:51this portrait of Mary by Willem Wissing.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53That's the same head.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57However, the pictures in the Ulster Museum, I'm pretty sure,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01from having looked at the paintwork and the technique and everything,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04are neither by Netscher or Wissing.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06So we need to find out another artist
0:43:06 > 0:43:08who was at the scene of the crime.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11The evidence all points to Jan Verkolje.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15He engraved this picture of Mary using Willem Wissing's head.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18He's done a great job of covering his tracks by using elements from
0:43:18 > 0:43:23different sources, but I believe he painted our two portraits.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26And, having looked at examples of his work online,
0:43:26 > 0:43:30and here in the library, he was a Dutch artist who paints
0:43:30 > 0:43:33in a very highly finished way, quite a smooth technique,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37which matches exactly the pictures in Ulster Museum.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40So is there any evidence Verkolje ever painted a pair of portraits
0:43:40 > 0:43:42of William and Mary?
0:43:42 > 0:43:47My clincher is a record here of an auction in Edinburgh,
0:43:47 > 0:43:52in the year 1831, of a pair of portraits of William and Mary,
0:43:52 > 0:43:54by Jan Verkolje.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57Is that the pair that ended up in Ulster? Who knows?
0:43:57 > 0:44:01With an artist like Verkolje, of whom we know so little,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04it's impossible to attribute uncleaned and unsigned paintings
0:44:04 > 0:44:06with complete certainty.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10But, for now, I'm as confident as I can be that he's our man.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21Whoever painted the Ulster Museum portraits,
0:44:21 > 0:44:22they're in fine company.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26There's no shortage of pictures of William III in Belfast.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Murals of William still provide the backdrop to the annual
0:44:49 > 0:44:54Protestant Orange marches. They have huge symbolic significance,
0:44:54 > 0:44:57which is why having a portrait of King Billy at storm Stormont
0:44:57 > 0:45:00really mattered to Unionist MPs.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04They just didn't want one that also had an image of the Pope in the sky.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13So, what is going on in the Stormont picture?
0:45:13 > 0:45:17It certainly has a very different feel from the triumphant warrior
0:45:17 > 0:45:18portrayed in the murals.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22I'm hoping that the College of Arms in the City of London
0:45:22 > 0:45:25will be able to help me find a match for some of the emblems
0:45:25 > 0:45:28on the banners in the painting.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31This flag, with its red cross on a white ground,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34and a crossbow in the quarters, looks a promising start.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47It seems this is a symbol associated with the Spanish Habsburg monarchy,
0:45:47 > 0:45:48the Cross of Burgundy.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52But, at the beginning of the 18th century,
0:45:52 > 0:45:55the Habsburg dominions spread far beyond Spain.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Well, here we have, in a manuscript called Flemish Arms,
0:46:00 > 0:46:04we have what appears to be
0:46:04 > 0:46:06a depiction of the symbol in question.
0:46:06 > 0:46:12- Ah.- What are clearly two knotted staves of wood.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17It's stylised on the flag as being turned into what in heraldry we call
0:46:17 > 0:46:19a saltire raguly.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22- Raguly.- A saltire is a diagonal cross, as in the flag of Scotland,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25- of course.- Raguly is sort of a bit raggedy, but not quite.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29Exactly, exactly. So that's a classic design from the sort of
0:46:29 > 0:46:31banner or flag that might have been used by
0:46:31 > 0:46:34a Flemish Guild of crossbowmen.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38I think we've got a lot of papal imagery, and we've got this group of
0:46:38 > 0:46:43possibly Flemish individuals using a banner with a Habsburg,
0:46:43 > 0:46:45and therefore Catholic, emblem on it.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50I think it's highly likely to be the Spanish Netherlands
0:46:50 > 0:46:52that this painting is depicting.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58I feel like I'm learning a new language here -
0:46:58 > 0:47:01the red saltire with its raguly edge.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04The cross of Burgundy is the most significant piece of evidence
0:47:04 > 0:47:07we've found in the picture, and once you recognise it,
0:47:07 > 0:47:09you start to see it everywhere.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11Here it is in a book showing
0:47:11 > 0:47:13the seals used by the Counts of Flanders.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18So the evidence seems to be pointing towards the Spanish Netherlands,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20and one thing is very clear -
0:47:20 > 0:47:23there's nothing in our picture that shows Ireland.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36The Spanish Netherlands occupied an area that roughly corresponds
0:47:36 > 0:47:40to modern Belgium. And, in the city of Antwerp,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43I think we will finally unlock the mystery of the Stormont picture.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50This painting shows the Crossbowmen's Guild of Antwerp
0:47:50 > 0:47:55parading in this square. You can see they're all wearing the same
0:47:55 > 0:47:59red sash that the gentlemen in the Stormont picture have.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01The building behind me on my left
0:48:01 > 0:48:04is the Guild of St George of Crossbowmen here in Antwerp.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07You can see St George at the top of the building in a fine gold statue,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10slaying the dragon. And, beneath that,
0:48:10 > 0:48:12there is a pair of crossbowmen carved into the stone.
0:48:15 > 0:48:16As well as the raguly saltire,
0:48:16 > 0:48:20which establishes the connection to the Spanish Habsburgs,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23the Stormont picture has several examples of St George's emblem.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28A red cross on a white ground, and this is because the picture
0:48:28 > 0:48:31shows the members of St George's Guild.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35I'm convinced that the people in our painting were nothing to do
0:48:35 > 0:48:37with Protestantism in Ireland.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40They were Catholics from that Guild building here in Antwerp.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42Also, in the background of the painting in a flag,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44you can see a tiny crown.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47And, behind me, on the town hall of Antwerp,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49you can see exactly the same crown,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53the distinctive three-leafed crown of the city of Antwerp.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55The people in the painting in Stormont are not
0:48:55 > 0:48:57orange sash-wearing Protestants,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59welcoming King William III.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03They are red sash-wearing Catholic Bergers from Antwerp,
0:49:03 > 0:49:06demonstrating their loyalty to the Pope.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08They are nothing to do with William III at all.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12Having satisfied ourselves that we know exactly where
0:49:12 > 0:49:16the Stormont picture comes from, we now have a more diplomatic job
0:49:16 > 0:49:21of breaking the news to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23- Hello. - Hello.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26The Assembly's represented by the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29two friendly sceptics needing to be convinced.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34Hopefully, you're going to tell us something interesting about this
0:49:34 > 0:49:37painting that means so very, very much
0:49:37 > 0:49:39to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43'We painstakingly ran through the details that we'd uncovered.'
0:49:43 > 0:49:48We found in Antwerp that the leading Guild of Crossbowmen was called
0:49:48 > 0:49:51the St George's Guild in Flemish, which is the Guild of St George.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53And, to be a member of that Guild,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56you had to take an oath to uphold the Catholic Church.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59And that is why His Holiness is up there.
0:49:59 > 0:50:06- Ah.- So, we can be pretty sure that the folks here in their red sashes
0:50:06 > 0:50:10are the members of the Guild of the St George's Guild in Antwerp.
0:50:10 > 0:50:15One of the legends of St George tells the story that when he went to
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Libya, one of the people who told him that there was a dragon
0:50:18 > 0:50:21up the road, and he had to go and slay it, was a hermit.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26- Right.- So the hermit is ushering in St George,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29the patron saint of the Guild of Antwerp.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32But old opinions die hard.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34For those on opposite sides of the political divide,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37the picture is now freighted with a meaning that would certainly
0:50:37 > 0:50:40have mystified the crossbowmen of Antwerp.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45It is of much greater value than the monetary value that
0:50:45 > 0:50:51it might fetch in a public auction. And certainly, I would think,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54will remain a significant feature within the building.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59To have the definition obviously gives a new dimension to
0:50:59 > 0:51:04our thinking on it. Having said that, the fact that it is
0:51:04 > 0:51:09of historical nature to us in the Assembly, I think,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12allows us to be a bit more perhaps, well,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15certainly reflective at this stage, on it.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17We were wondering if you could get a refund.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32Back in London, Simon's been working to remove the over-paint
0:51:32 > 0:51:34from the Ulster Museum panels,
0:51:34 > 0:51:36and he's revealed a faint signature,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38exactly where we first hoped it would appear.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42I was round quicker than you can say,
0:51:42 > 0:51:44"17th-century Flemish panel painting".
0:51:44 > 0:51:47So the key question is, is the signature contemporaneous with
0:51:47 > 0:51:50the painting, or is it something someone else has come along
0:51:50 > 0:51:53and stuck on to try and make this a Brueghel?
0:51:53 > 0:51:55I would say that that is contemporaneous, yes.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57These are sort of quite faint light brown,
0:51:57 > 0:52:01and then there's a really heavy reinforced dark brown R next to it.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03Which is probably the overpainted letter.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05OK. It's definitely original?
0:52:05 > 0:52:09- Yes.- Because it's enmeshed in the original paint layers.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11And the date?
0:52:11 > 0:52:13And the date, let's go across to the date.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16Well, there it is. 1633.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20- Which is about right. - That's about right, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24'Simon has now cleaned the picture back to its original paint layers,
0:52:24 > 0:52:26'the work done, I'm convinced,
0:52:26 > 0:52:28'by Pieter Brueghel the Younger himself.'
0:52:29 > 0:52:32So you've cleaned, by the look of it, about 90% of the painting.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35- Yeah.- So you can suddenly see the recession through the picture.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38So you're going down the flowerbeds, through the river,
0:52:38 > 0:52:40into the little figures in the distance.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43- And it all makes perfect sense. - And you know what it is that
0:52:43 > 0:52:46actually makes that procession work? And that's the light, dark, light,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49dark, light, dark, light, dark, which these artists knew.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51And they'd make it smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller
0:52:51 > 0:52:54as it got further and further away. And what our last repainter
0:52:54 > 0:52:57and retoucher didn't know was that.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59- Yes.- He's just covered over with the same old colour
0:52:59 > 0:53:01- from the foreground to the background.- Yes, yes.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09After ultraviolet and infrared scanning, a slow and
0:53:09 > 0:53:14meticulous clean removing the damage from past restorations,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17and careful retouching, the pictures are looking resplendent.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23Almost as good as the day they left the Brueghel workshop.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31The detailed cycle of the seasons that was so important to
0:53:31 > 0:53:33Pieter Brueghel has re-emerged.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39The colour has returned to the cheeks of the Flanders villagers,
0:53:39 > 0:53:41and at work or play,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44their lives are once again a little bit closer to ours.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Scouring the Museum archives, I have discovered that the
0:53:53 > 0:53:56over-painting was done as recently as 1969.
0:53:57 > 0:54:03And the downgrade to after Pieter Brueghel was decided in 1973,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06after photos of the panels were sent to London for an expert opinion.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10But, however confident we feel,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13our hearts are beating faster as Andrew Fletcher arrives
0:54:13 > 0:54:15to give his verdict.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19- Gosh, look at these! - Our two victims.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22- Wow. - Post-surgical victims.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25Yeah. They've been through rehab, and they're looking good.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28They are. They are indeed.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31No, they've cleaned wonderfully well, haven't they?
0:54:31 > 0:54:32And we've gained a signature.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35And a signature there, look at that. Yeah.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40The date, 1633, works in our favour, too.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43The majority of the versions his workshop painted
0:54:43 > 0:54:46were painted in the 1620s and early '30s.
0:54:46 > 0:54:51They come up, time and again, out of the woodwork.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53In this instance, from Northern Ireland.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58'So far, so good. Next, the underdrawing.'
0:54:58 > 0:55:01What we don't see with Brueghel is a continuous contour
0:55:01 > 0:55:07around a figure. We see lots of centimetre-long squiggly lines,
0:55:07 > 0:55:11combining to create the outline of the figure.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13And you see it here.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16And then, further back into the composition,
0:55:16 > 0:55:20the underdrawing tends to get less detailed,
0:55:20 > 0:55:22more summary in its applications.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26So you can see, for example, in the background, here around the church,
0:55:26 > 0:55:28- there's just the odd little mark.- Mm.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31- We've gained about half a dozen sheep.- Excellent.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35And these beautiful little bleaching field details, and drying fields.
0:55:35 > 0:55:36Oh, yes, look at those coming up, yeah.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40And I see, for example, what we get with Brueghel
0:55:40 > 0:55:43is that the application of paint on the drapery
0:55:43 > 0:55:46always follows the folds and the way the drapery falls.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49You mean that the brush follows the line, as opposed to...
0:55:49 > 0:55:50The brush will follow the line of the...
0:55:50 > 0:55:53- ..crosshatching, or something. - Exactly. So, for example,
0:55:53 > 0:55:55you can see, in this lady's apron,
0:55:55 > 0:56:00- the brush strokes follow the direction of the flow.- Got it.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04So, Andrew, would it be fair to say that these would most likely
0:56:04 > 0:56:07have left Brueghel's studio as Brueghels?
0:56:07 > 0:56:08That's what the punter was buying,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11they were buying Brueghel the Youngers?
0:56:11 > 0:56:14I think that's right. Today, we're looking more profoundly into
0:56:14 > 0:56:17the question of attribution than Brueghel's customers
0:56:17 > 0:56:18would have at the time.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21But your presence of a signature on both of them argues
0:56:21 > 0:56:23in favour of that, as well as the technique.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Could one see them today being sold as Brueghel the Youngers?
0:56:27 > 0:56:31These are certainly of the period, and painted in Brueghel's workshop.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34I would say that it is, at this stage, likely that these were
0:56:34 > 0:56:37painted by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39I'm very favourable towards them.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Good. That's a good result, don't you think?
0:56:41 > 0:56:42It certainly is.
0:56:43 > 0:56:47'For the first time in nearly half a century, I think we can
0:56:47 > 0:56:52'once more call them Pieter Brueghel the Younger panels, exactly as they
0:56:52 > 0:56:56'were referred to by "Bull's-Eye" Braithwaite, back in 1906.'
0:57:03 > 0:57:07The pictures are now returned to the Ulster Museum.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09Anticipation is high, and there's a great turnout
0:57:09 > 0:57:14from both the museum and the Philosophical Society.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19You might remember that there were always patches of really good bits
0:57:19 > 0:57:21of painting in these pictures,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24but there were also really murky parts as well.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26So Bendor can tell you a little bit more about
0:57:26 > 0:57:28what the cleaning has revealed.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32Well, thanks. Well, after much careful analysis, including of the
0:57:32 > 0:57:36underdrawing and the way the pictures were created,
0:57:36 > 0:57:40everything now tells us that we can say with confidence that these are
0:57:40 > 0:57:45works one can describe as Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47And that is extremely good news,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50because one doesn't often find them.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53If I could be cheesy about it,
0:57:53 > 0:57:56going from after Brueghel the Younger to Brueghel the Younger
0:57:56 > 0:57:58is a bit like going from Sunday League to the Premiership
0:57:58 > 0:58:02in one season. It's that good.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05Just this week, in Christie's in London,
0:58:05 > 0:58:09an extremely rare set of all four seasons by Brueghel the Younger
0:58:09 > 0:58:12was on the market, and they sold for £6.6 million.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16Yes. LAUGHTER
0:58:21 > 0:58:24It's a fantastic gift. We're just so enriched.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28They're going to completely dramatically change this part
0:58:28 > 0:58:31of the collection, and that's wonderful.