0:00:02 > 0:00:0318,500,000.
0:00:03 > 0:00:07The art world, where paintings change hands for fortunes.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Selling at 95 million.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12But for every known masterpiece,
0:00:12 > 0:00:15there may be another still waiting to be discovered.
0:00:16 > 0:00:17Oh, my word.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20They're known as sleepers.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23International art dealer Philip Mould hunts them down.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25In the past we looked at pictures.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Now, almost, you can look through them.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Using cutting-edge science and investigative research,
0:00:31 > 0:00:35we've teamed up to find long-lost works by the great masters.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Wow.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41The problem is, not every painting is quite what it seems.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45When these paintings were thought to be genuine, how much were they worth?
0:00:45 > 0:00:46Millions.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48It's a journey that can end in joy...
0:00:49 > 0:00:52- Isn't that great?- That's amazing.
0:00:52 > 0:00:53..or bitter disappointment.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56I can't get my head round it, I really can't.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01In this episode, we take on a doubly challenging investigation,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04as we try and prove that not one, but two paintings
0:01:04 > 0:01:08are missing works by one of Britain's best loved artists -
0:01:08 > 0:01:09John Constable.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12Boy, he can paint.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16The trail takes us all the way from Britain to America.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21And it plunges us into the murky world of 19th century fakes.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25The picture had been pretty well repainted by a forger.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28It's a journey with more than a few surprises.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30SIREN WAILS
0:01:32 > 0:01:33How incredible!
0:01:33 > 0:01:37But can we do enough to persuade the experts and the art market
0:01:37 > 0:01:40to anoint two new paintings with those magic words
0:01:40 > 0:01:42"by John Constable"?
0:01:43 > 0:01:47If I had to come down on one side of the line or the other,
0:01:47 > 0:01:48I would say...
0:01:59 > 0:02:00Three more for us.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03At the end of the last series, we asked you to contact us
0:02:03 > 0:02:06if you thought you might have an undiscovered masterpiece
0:02:06 > 0:02:10languishing in your attic or under your bed.
0:02:10 > 0:02:11How about a bit of Picasso?
0:02:11 > 0:02:14- Found in a toolbox, apparently. - A toolbox?!
0:02:14 > 0:02:16'We were inundated with responses.'
0:02:16 > 0:02:19Have you seen this? Possible Rubens.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Hundreds of you got in touch about
0:02:21 > 0:02:25pictures claiming to be by some of the world's greatest artists.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30- Possible Turner.- Someone here thinks they've got a work
0:02:30 > 0:02:32by the great Sir Joshua Reynolds.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37One name, though, kept cropping up - Constable.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42And two possible works by this quintessential English artist
0:02:42 > 0:02:44stopped us in our tracks.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52One arrived on Philip's doorstep after a journey from America.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03This picture has just arrived
0:03:03 > 0:03:05all the way from Detroit.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10It belongs to a man called Tom Toppin, and he believes
0:03:10 > 0:03:12that it's by John Constable.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16And I have to say, just having taken it out of the case...
0:03:21 > 0:03:24..he's got a point. I can see where he's coming from.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29The other was closer to home, in west London.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33A family heirloom owned by Mrs Gilly Dance.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37- Hello.- Fiona, how lovely to meet you.- Lovely to meet you.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Complete with a promising little sign.
0:03:41 > 0:03:42"Yarmouth Jetty,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46"1776. John Constable, RA, 1837."
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Do you know if this is in the Catalogue Raisonne,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52- the list of Constable's works? - I don't believe it is,
0:03:52 > 0:03:58I don't believe it is. I don't think anybody's looked at it or really...
0:03:58 > 0:03:59- Offered an opinion on it?- No.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04My father-in-law bought it in 1942,
0:04:04 > 0:04:09then my husband was given it in 1975
0:04:09 > 0:04:13and then when I moved, it was under my bed.
0:04:13 > 0:04:14It was under your bed?
0:04:14 > 0:04:17- Under my bed, in a crate. - A John Constable under your bed!
0:04:17 > 0:04:21And one never really thought very much about it.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24One never really imagined that it was a Constable.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Oh, really? You didn't think it was,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29- even though it says "John Constable" there?- No.- Why not?
0:04:29 > 0:04:32I don't know why not, but I just didn't.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35- Too good to be true?- Too good to be true, too good to be true.
0:04:35 > 0:04:36And what about here? It says here,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40"From the collection of Miss Spedding, a friend of the artist's wife."
0:04:40 > 0:04:43- So do you know anything about Miss Spedding?- Well, I do
0:04:43 > 0:04:46because there's a quotation on the back of the picture.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49- So can we take it down? - Certainly.- Have a look?
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Certainly, yes, do.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54While we take down Gilly's picture, over in the gallery
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Philip takes a closer look at the other possible Constable painting.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03The first and most obvious observation is,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07this is a sketch or a first idea for a composition.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12But oddly, it's all the better for that.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16There's a feeling of spontaneous observation,
0:05:16 > 0:05:21of really having encountered the movement of the waves,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23or the activity of the clouds,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27and then attempting to get it down in some shorthand.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31A picture like this might never have been intended for display.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33It may have started life as a rough draft,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37with the artist working out his plan in oil paint.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41But even sketches and scribbles of great artists are highly prized.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45If this painting can be proved to be by John Constable,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49it's worth probably £300,000,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52perhaps more, if the condition is good.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Meanwhile, in Gilly's flat,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00the back of Yarmouth Jetty is yielding a host of clues.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Look, there's a whole life story back here.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08What's this? "Constable writing to Leslie
0:06:08 > 0:06:11"on December 30th, 1836, says,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14"'We are almost alone, only our friends Mr and Miss Spedding.'"
0:06:14 > 0:06:18- Yes.- "'Very old and much esteemed friends of my poor wife.'"
0:06:18 > 0:06:21- We don't know who put that there. - Don't know who put that there.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24It's always been on it since it's been in my possession,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27- our possession. - So that's a good start.- Yes.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29And then this one here.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31No, I can't make out that word.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33"Yarmouth Jetty by Constable"...
0:06:33 > 0:06:34something... "Spedding".
0:06:34 > 0:06:37It's Spedding, it's definitely something.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41It's either property of Miss Spedding or something...
0:06:41 > 0:06:43Is this an address here? Sussex.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46- Is it?- Mmm. That says Sussex.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48You've got very good eyesight, Fiona.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50And what's this here? Hang on.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53"Polishing a picture."
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Oh, so this is how to look after the picture.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59It says here, "After six weeks should the picture chill or bloom,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03"the picture should be washed with cold water and a sponge."
0:07:03 > 0:07:05- I'm not sure about that. - Good gracious!
0:07:05 > 0:07:07I don't know if that tells us anything about the provenance,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11- but it's fascinating nonetheless! - Now we know how to clean our pictures.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Well, there's lots to go on, that's for sure.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20With two potential Constables to investigate,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24Fiona and I meet at the National Gallery to compare notes
0:07:24 > 0:07:26and learn more about the artist.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32This is the room of the greatest British riches
0:07:32 > 0:07:34in the National Gallery here.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39'Where better to start than with his most famous work The Hay Wain?'
0:07:49 > 0:07:53Gosh, it's an idyllic vision of rural England, isn't it?
0:07:53 > 0:07:56It's so familiar to us that that's actually a problem, isn't it?
0:07:56 > 0:08:00It is the painting that's launched a thousand jigsaw puzzles
0:08:00 > 0:08:02and tea towels and chocolate boxes.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06And yet there's a reason why it's so familiar to us,
0:08:06 > 0:08:08because it is just such a perfect rendering,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12such a complete expression of the English countryside.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Today, Constable's most ambitious paintings
0:08:17 > 0:08:19command the highest prices at auction.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23Lot 37. Constable's Lock.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Fair warning, at £20 million.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32But in his lifetime, he made a far more modest income.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36The son of a mill owner, Constable was born in 1776
0:08:36 > 0:08:38and raised in Suffolk.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43Yet his ability to evoke the essence of English nature on canvas
0:08:43 > 0:08:47only began to be widely appreciated after his death in 1837.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52As his reputation grew, so did the number of imitators.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55But none possessed his unique gifts.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59I mean, take for example the fisherman, pushing his way
0:08:59 > 0:09:01through the foliage in the bank.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05This is something he must have observed, something he's seen.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08I mean, it's a sensual experience
0:09:08 > 0:09:13that only someone who's actually seen it and loves it can impart,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16providing, of course, they can paint, and boy, he can paint.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20And the sky is stunning, isn't it?
0:09:20 > 0:09:25But of course, you know, the sky again is a wonderful example of
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Constable the portrayer of specific nature.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30On the left-hand side you've got darkness,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33on the right-hand side, you've got billowing light, you know,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35a typical English day, you know.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38A summer's day which could go either way. I mean,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41this is what gives so much authenticity to Constable.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44He has turned a cottage with a cart
0:09:44 > 0:09:49into something that can compete with the great works of the Renaissance.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51It's a bit daunting, isn't it?
0:09:51 > 0:09:56Because we're trying to find not just one new Constable but two.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58But this picture helps us.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03I mean, for all of its magnificence and its sort of seamless beauty,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06you can actually see the working method.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09If you cast your eye down to the bottom middle of the picture,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12you will see a ghostly form.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13Oh, yeah.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Constable was so meticulous in his approach to painting that he even
0:10:19 > 0:10:21created full-size working sketches
0:10:21 > 0:10:24for pictures like The Hay Wain.
0:10:24 > 0:10:25He had planned to include
0:10:25 > 0:10:27a boy on a horse in the scene,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31but ended up painting it out in the finished picture.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36So that change of heart that you can see there,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40it's like a window into what Constable was thinking,
0:10:40 > 0:10:43and into the process of how he put this painting together
0:10:43 > 0:10:46and that's what we need to look for in our paintings.
0:10:46 > 0:10:47Yeah, this gives us a lead.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Our head of research, Dr Bendor Grosvenor, has already started
0:10:58 > 0:11:01the hunt for evidence, and we're all getting together
0:11:01 > 0:11:04- at Philip's gallery. - You know how we're always banging on
0:11:04 > 0:11:06about looking at the back of a painting.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08Well, we've lucked out with Yarmouth Jetty
0:11:08 > 0:11:11because it's full of labels and hints and clues.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13When I examined the painting at Gilly's flat,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15there was the name Spedding on the back
0:11:15 > 0:11:19and then, rather frustratingly, just a fragment of an address - "Sussex".
0:11:19 > 0:11:22I've done a little bit more research into that Spedding label
0:11:22 > 0:11:24and it's proving very useful.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26She lived at a place called
0:11:26 > 0:11:27Sweet Haws Grange,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30which was in Sussex.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Now, that's useful for us because Miss Spedding's father
0:11:34 > 0:11:37was called Anthony Spedding, he was a lawyer in the 19th century
0:11:37 > 0:11:40and he lived in a house on Hampstead Heath, and I don't know
0:11:40 > 0:11:44if you can recognise the artist of that picture?
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Heh! That's by John Constable.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50It is indeed Constable, and there's a further Constable connection here
0:11:50 > 0:11:54because Anthony Spedding's business partner, Charles Bicknell,
0:11:54 > 0:11:56was John Constable's father-in-law.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58Of course, and Miss Spedding's father.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02So that's real progress. We've now got a flesh and blood connection
0:12:02 > 0:12:05between the picture and Constable.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09The thing is, can we establish that Miss Spedding actually owned
0:12:09 > 0:12:11any Constable paintings and in particular, of course,
0:12:11 > 0:12:12owned Yarmouth Jetty?
0:12:15 > 0:12:18The provenance actually is really very encouraging
0:12:18 > 0:12:21and I have to say, I believe this picture
0:12:21 > 0:12:25but there's a problem because at first glance it looks like a sketch
0:12:25 > 0:12:29and then you get up close and it looks more solid.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32I mean, it's sort of almost neither one thing nor the other.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35And the thing is, Gilly's is not the only Yarmouth Jetty.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37There's a Yarmouth Jetty in the Tate,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41which is authentically by Constable, it's in the Catalogue Raisonne,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43- and it's a lot more detailed than our one.- Hmm.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47And what's going to make our job a little bit harder still
0:12:47 > 0:12:48is that there are in fact
0:12:48 > 0:12:52three Yarmouth Jetties which are accepted as genuine Constables.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55But the curious thing is, there's no preparatory sketch for those
0:12:55 > 0:12:58three pictures. So the question is,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02is our picture Constable's original Yarmouth Jetty sketch?
0:13:03 > 0:13:08Well, I reckon if we can get this picture through as by Constable,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12it could be valued at over £100,000.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14I'm sure Gilly will be thrilled with that.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19When it comes to our other picture, A Sea Beach, Brighton,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Philip obviously likes what he sees.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25But we need to know more about the painting's history,
0:13:25 > 0:13:27so we contact the owner in America, Tom Toppin.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33I bought it in the early '90s from Sotheby's
0:13:33 > 0:13:38and I was advised by one of the experts in the Paintings Department
0:13:38 > 0:13:42that it was a Constable oil sketch,
0:13:42 > 0:13:43listed as "attributed"
0:13:43 > 0:13:48because there was some concern about the provenance. I was told
0:13:48 > 0:13:53that it originally had come from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55which piqued my interest.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00We ended up being a successful bidder at £40,000.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03We got a fantastic bargain
0:14:03 > 0:14:05if it turns out to be by Constable.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11Otherwise, I have a very large embarrassing loss
0:14:11 > 0:14:14if it turns out not to be. It was a major gamble.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Matter of fact, my wife keeps reminding me about that.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23I'm really getting to like Sea Beach, Brighton, Tom Toppin's picture.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26I mean, we know for a considerable period of its life,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30it was owned by one of the most prestigious museums in the world,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33The Museum of Fine Arts at Boston.
0:14:33 > 0:14:34OK, they flogged it,
0:14:34 > 0:14:39but for a time it was taken dead seriously as a work by Constable.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42But can we find a reason to take it seriously again?
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Now, I don't like to be the bearer of bad news here,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49but there are an awful lot of fake Constables out there,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52and our two pictures share one significant thing in common.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55And that is that the subjects of both
0:14:55 > 0:14:58were included in a set of prints by Constable
0:14:58 > 0:15:00called The English Landscape Scenery
0:15:00 > 0:15:03and this set of prints
0:15:03 > 0:15:06was of course prime material for Constable forgers.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09So we'll need to find some pretty compelling evidence, then,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11if we're going to establish that
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Yarmouth Jetty and A Sea Beach, Brighton are the real deal.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19With science playing an increasingly important role in determining
0:15:19 > 0:15:21whether a painting is real or fake,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23we're going to meet Sarah Cove,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25a conservator who specialises
0:15:25 > 0:15:28in the technical analysis of John Constable's work.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32- Sarah, hello.- Hello. - Nice to see you.- Nice to meet you.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34- Hi, Philip. How are you? - Very good to see you.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Right, this is it. Shall I put it on the easel?
0:15:39 > 0:15:42'She's been taking a closer look at both our pictures,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46'Yarmouth Jetty and A Sea Beach, Brighton, searching for evidence
0:15:46 > 0:15:52'of the artist's unique style - even if it lies deep beneath the surface.'
0:15:52 > 0:15:55It's very brown, isn't it?
0:15:55 > 0:16:00That's partly because it's got quite a discoloured varnish on it,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03which is on the whole surface of the painting
0:16:03 > 0:16:08and the varnish will particularly
0:16:08 > 0:16:10affect the sky and the sea,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14which obviously is the majority of the painting.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17The subtle blue, purple,
0:16:17 > 0:16:21pink tones that would be used in the sky
0:16:21 > 0:16:24are completely knocked out by the discoloured varnish.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26So it looks very flat
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and it has this kind of brown overall appearance.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32- It looks to me like it's sat in a pub for 50 years.- But...
0:16:32 > 0:16:34- Yes.- With people smoking around it.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38Yes, I can kind of see through the varnish in a way,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42to think, well, if that's cleaned,
0:16:42 > 0:16:46that's going to come up more than likely a certain colour.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50For example, if this was by Constable, I would expect
0:16:50 > 0:16:54that the whites in particular
0:16:54 > 0:16:59would come up as an absolutely more or less pure chalky white
0:16:59 > 0:17:04because he was using things like egg white mixed into his paint
0:17:04 > 0:17:06with a very small amount of oil,
0:17:06 > 0:17:11which meant that the white was almost like white chalk.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Can't we use that trick you use in the gallery, Philip,
0:17:13 > 0:17:18where you just get cotton wool and a bit of spit
0:17:18 > 0:17:20and have a go at some of this? Can't we do that now?
0:17:20 > 0:17:22- No.- Oh. Why not?
0:17:22 > 0:17:25No, because this is, this is a proper operation.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28We have to actually cut through discoloured yellow varnish
0:17:28 > 0:17:31- in order to get there.- I know, just to give us a bit of an idea.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33It would freshen it up, perhaps a little bit.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36We could actually... Yes, we can do it with spit.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39- You see? I've been paying attention!- Except that...
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Except that on some paintings,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45particularly modern paintings,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48you potentially can end up with the paint coming off on the spit.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51This is not something I would recommend viewers to do at home.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Right. OK.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59The areas that will be most affected, really, are the dark areas
0:17:59 > 0:18:03because the fact that the varnish is quite opacified is almost
0:18:03 > 0:18:08putting, like a whitish veil on the surface, so...
0:18:08 > 0:18:11- Oh, goodness me.- Gosh, it's dirty! - That's the surface dirt.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13- It's looking better, though. - Yeah, that's the surface dirt.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17That's basically soot from fires in the past
0:18:17 > 0:18:20and also airborne pollutants from car exhausts.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24But you can already see more coming through now, can't you?
0:18:24 > 0:18:26- Like the shadows here. - You can see more depth of tone.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28- This stroke here. - That was a good call.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32'Looking through the old varnish
0:18:32 > 0:18:35'might bring us closer to the artist's original colour scheme,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39'but Sarah thinks she can also see evidence
0:18:39 > 0:18:41'of more than one hand at work.'
0:18:41 > 0:18:43What you can actually see
0:18:43 > 0:18:50are traces of what appears to be some kind of very old repainting.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52It's quite opaque,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56it's not at all in character with the rest of the original paint
0:18:56 > 0:19:02and I would suspect that it would have been put on to try and
0:19:02 > 0:19:06make the painting look much less sketchy than it does now.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08In other words, at some time
0:19:08 > 0:19:10this painting was given a substantial makeover.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15'Sarah needs to spend more time studying A Sea Beach, Brighton
0:19:15 > 0:19:19'under the microscope, while our other picture, Yarmouth Jetty,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21'poses even bigger questions.'
0:19:25 > 0:19:28So, first impressions?
0:19:28 > 0:19:29Uh...
0:19:29 > 0:19:34First impressions are that
0:19:34 > 0:19:38there's obviously something going on there, in the middle of the painting
0:19:38 > 0:19:41which looks like possibly
0:19:41 > 0:19:44- a sail from some...- You mean something underneath the paint?
0:19:44 > 0:19:45Yes, yes.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50Something that was originally in this composition,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52which has been painted out,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54but it's become more visible,
0:19:54 > 0:19:58partly because oil paint becomes more transparent naturally
0:19:58 > 0:20:01as it ages, so things that are there that are covered up
0:20:01 > 0:20:03then sometimes become visible
0:20:03 > 0:20:05and also partly because I think
0:20:05 > 0:20:11the surface has been slightly worn away during the lining process.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13It's like the ghost of something there, isn't it?
0:20:13 > 0:20:15It is, and also there's some...
0:20:15 > 0:20:17some much brighter red.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19That, I don't know that that helps.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23- Reddish-brown line coming down here. - Yes, I can see that.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27And this, this has a slightly warmer colour to it here.
0:20:27 > 0:20:33So I definitely think something else is going on underneath this painting
0:20:33 > 0:20:36that we're not really seeing now,
0:20:36 > 0:20:41which would make it a brilliant candidate for having an X-ray,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44because that should show whatever's
0:20:44 > 0:20:46underneath the current picture.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55While Sarah Cove takes a closer look at Yarmouth Jetty,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59I wade through Constable's wealth of correspondence.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04'There are several references to the Spedding family...'
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Spe... Spe...
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Spedding.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12'But no mention of a visit to Great Yarmouth.'
0:21:16 > 0:21:18Yet Constable was a skilled draughtsman
0:21:18 > 0:21:20who preferred to work from nature,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23and he grew up not far from this beach,
0:21:23 > 0:21:26so owner Gilly and I have come in search of any surviving landmarks
0:21:26 > 0:21:29that he might have incorporated into the picture.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31So, looking at your painting
0:21:31 > 0:21:34- as we stand here on the beach... - Yes, on the beach.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Let's try and imagine where Constable might have stood
0:21:37 > 0:21:40- when he was painting the scene. - Yes.- What do you think?
0:21:40 > 0:21:44Because if you look, just behind where that lamppost is
0:21:44 > 0:21:46is where the jetty was.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53- So...- He must have been a little bit this side.
0:21:53 > 0:21:54- Yes.- Mustn't he?
0:21:54 > 0:21:56I mean, roughly about here.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01The original Yarmouth Jetty has sadly been demolished,
0:22:01 > 0:22:04but historic photos and pictures evoke its bustling heyday.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09I've got an engraving here, mid-19th century engraving.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12I mean, I think, looking at what's left there...
0:22:14 > 0:22:17..this building could be
0:22:17 > 0:22:20what's now called the Marine pub.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24- Yes.- See, with its distinctive high roof there.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29- Yes.- That shape could be that shape there
0:22:29 > 0:22:31but if this is a rough sketch,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33if it is, he's missed out the chimneys here
0:22:33 > 0:22:36and he's missed out the other buildings, he's just getting an idea
0:22:36 > 0:22:38- of what he wanted to put here.- Yes.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43You know, assuming this could be an oil sketch to then,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46to work up into a painting.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49The big difference between the sky in this painting and today
0:22:49 > 0:22:52is there's a little patch of sailor's blue peeping through here.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55- Today, not a chance of any sun whatsoever.- No.
0:22:55 > 0:22:56Grey, grey, grey!
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Built in 1801,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12the Marine pub once played host to Nelson's navy,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16although it's not recorded whether they were moved to break into song.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Gilly and I have taken refuge from the cold
0:23:19 > 0:23:20and it's a chance to update her
0:23:20 > 0:23:24on our investigation into the labels on the back of her painting.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27Gilly, I've been doing a bit of research into
0:23:27 > 0:23:30some of the different things we've found on the back of your painting.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Now, first of all, this reference,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Constable writing to Leslie on December 30th, 1836,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39and this is what it says on the back of your painting.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43This is Constable saying, "We have a very small but pretty thigh of doe
0:23:43 > 0:23:46"from my old friend Lady Dysart, and we are almost alone,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48"only our friends Mr and Miss Spedding,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52"very old and much esteemed friends of my poor wife."
0:23:52 > 0:23:53Now, I wanted to see
0:23:53 > 0:23:56if that corresponds to an actual letter by Constable
0:23:56 > 0:24:00and I found this letter with the same date, December 30th, 1836,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04- from Constable to Leslie. - Oh, how exciting!- And it is the same
0:24:04 > 0:24:07but interestingly, it has an extra line in it.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Constable then goes on to write,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12"Our object is to get a long and quiet hour for the children
0:24:12 > 0:24:15"and Miss Spedding, who is fond of Maria."
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Now, the Maria he's referring to here is his daughter, Maria.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21- So it shows us that they were... - They were friends.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Yes, old and esteemed friends
0:24:23 > 0:24:26and also they wanted to spend time together, and Miss Spedding
0:24:26 > 0:24:28had a particular relationship with the children as well.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30That's very nice.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32I thought, wrongly,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36that she was quite a sort of middle-aged spinster lady.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Our research into Miss Spedding
0:24:38 > 0:24:42has turned up one tantalising piece of evidence -
0:24:42 > 0:24:44a letter that describes her as
0:24:44 > 0:24:47the owner of a genuine Constable painting called Dedham Mill.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53The letter says, "These things may perhaps be interesting to Miss Spedding,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57"as they show what were the feelings with which he painted such pictures
0:24:57 > 0:25:00"as the one she possesses, which represents,
0:25:00 > 0:25:04"as you have probably mentioned to her, Dedham Mill on the River Stour"
0:25:04 > 0:25:06and also, intriguingly, at the end,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09it says, "I hope soon to hear from you
0:25:09 > 0:25:12"that Miss Spedding has received the picture in safety."
0:25:12 > 0:25:15So it sounds like she's only just had the picture
0:25:15 > 0:25:17or was receiving the picture about this time,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20and the letter was written in January 1841.
0:25:20 > 0:25:21So we know she owned one.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Did she own two? I mean, does two make a collection?
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Well, one, two or three, yes.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30I've always wondered about her collection
0:25:30 > 0:25:32and whether there was any reference
0:25:32 > 0:25:37to any other Constables that the Spedding family owned.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40The connection between the Constable family and the previous owners
0:25:40 > 0:25:43of Yarmouth Jetty is an encouraging sign,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47so Gilly and I are taking our scientific analysis a step further.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50We've come to the Hamilton Kerr Institute,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54a specialist art research facility in Cambridge, to meet Chris Titmuss.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58'He's going to X-ray the ghostly shadow in the middle of the picture.'
0:25:58 > 0:26:00- And this is Gilly. - Hello, lovely to meet you.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02It's a lovely painting.
0:26:02 > 0:26:03It is looking lovely, isn't it?
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Have you seen it out of the frame before?
0:26:05 > 0:26:07I've never seen it out of the frame.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12- I doubt it's ever been out of the frame since 1942.- Amazing.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16Now, there's a bit I'm particularly interested in, which is here.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20- It's like, you know this mark here, Gilly.- Yes, there's a sort of
0:26:20 > 0:26:22- spooky mark there. - Very interested to see.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Can't wait to see what's under there.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27OK, we'll just make sure that the edge of the plate
0:26:27 > 0:26:30- goes over the interesting bit. - Wonderful.- Great.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41I'm sorry, there'll be a horrible loud noise for a few seconds.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44SIREN WAILS
0:26:45 > 0:26:49This is now when the X-rays are actually being exposed
0:26:49 > 0:26:51and taking the X-ray of the painting.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54- Are you excited?- Very, yes, I think it's simply riveting.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57It's all very dramatic with the noise and the flashing light
0:26:57 > 0:26:59and everything, isn't it?
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Hurry up! How much longer now?
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Oh, look. 40, 45... I could do a countdown.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07I got used to doing this for news, yes, absolutely.
0:27:07 > 0:27:08Three, two, one,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10cue!
0:27:10 > 0:27:11Well, that's what I hear
0:27:11 > 0:27:13- and that's your cue, Chris. Is it ready?- Let's hope so.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15- We'll go and see.- Come on, then.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18- Gilly, after you, go on. - Let's go, let's go.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Once Chris has begun to feed the exposed plate into the scanner,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30all we have to do is wait for the image to appear.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Here you can see the image starting to appear in a very small form.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41- Oh, look, this is your bit. - There's a big white blob there.- Yes.
0:27:41 > 0:27:42Do you think that's the thing?
0:27:42 > 0:27:46- The thing is, we don't know what way up we're looking at it yet.- No.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48It looks like Father Christmas's beard.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Well, it does rather, yes, it does.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52With a blob in the middle.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54What can it be?
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Nothing. Perhaps there's nothing underneath.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Turn this way, turn round this way and look at it,
0:27:59 > 0:28:00look at it upside down.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03- It's a face!- Oh!
0:28:03 > 0:28:05That Father Christmas's beard is a forehead.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08- I don't believe it.- Look!
0:28:08 > 0:28:11- Oh, my goodness.- My goodness.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Do you see that?
0:28:13 > 0:28:16- Heavens.- How amazing.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21How amazing. Look, so there are the eyes,
0:28:21 > 0:28:23there's the nose, there's the mouth
0:28:23 > 0:28:24and if you look, there's a...
0:28:24 > 0:28:26He's got a ruff on or something.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28- Yes, or a stock, a kind of scarf.- Stock.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32How incredible.
0:28:34 > 0:28:35Is it, is it a face?
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Yes, undoubtedly it's a face! Look, and here are the shoulders.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40I can see his mouth.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Isn't that incredible?
0:28:43 > 0:28:45What is he doing under my painting?
0:28:45 > 0:28:47THEY LAUGH
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Oh, my goodness.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56After Chris has taken the rest of the X-ray plates,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00the mystery man hiding beneath Yarmouth Jetty is revealed.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05So this is the whole of my painting now.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07That is the whole of your painting.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11- So actually...- You can see these are the white waves of the sea...
0:29:11 > 0:29:13- And here... - And those are your buildings.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15This is the white bit that comes,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18when we said, "Look, that ghostly image there,"
0:29:18 > 0:29:20that's the line of his shoulder.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22- That's right.- There.- How amazing!
0:29:22 > 0:29:26You've got a bit of Yarmouth Jetty with a man lying on his side in it.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28- Yes.- Can you... - That's Yarmouth Jetty,
0:29:28 > 0:29:30those are the buildings on the end.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33- Can you turn it now so we can see it...- We can swing it round
0:29:33 > 0:29:34and there we have your man.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37The thing that's so extraordinary is that is a real person,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40staring out at us,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43through...through time, like a ghost.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46- Through Yarmouth Jetty. - Through Yarmouth Jetty! Yes.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50I mean, one note of caution amongst all our excitement
0:29:50 > 0:29:56is that I've seen before, forgers use old canvases
0:29:56 > 0:29:59and then do their own painting over the top
0:29:59 > 0:30:01and because they were using an old canvas,
0:30:01 > 0:30:03people would be deceived by that
0:30:03 > 0:30:05and think, "It's an old canvas, so it must be an old painting,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08"when in fact it wasn't, it was just a fake." So...
0:30:09 > 0:30:13- Sorry, just a...- No, no!- Just a little note of caution, a little note of caution.- Yes, absolutely.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16But it's tremendously exciting!
0:30:22 > 0:30:26While Fiona and Gilly come to terms with the remarkable results
0:30:26 > 0:30:29of the Yarmouth Jetty X-ray, I've travelled to America
0:30:29 > 0:30:33in search of answers about our other potential Constable picture,
0:30:33 > 0:30:35A Sea Beach, Brighton.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39I've come to the Detroit suburbs to meet the painting's owner,
0:30:39 > 0:30:43a lawyer called Tom Toppin, and his wife, Bernie.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45How did an American attorney come to fall in love
0:30:45 > 0:30:48with this most English of artists?
0:30:48 > 0:30:52I inherited pictures. I inherited pictures from an aunt,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55and they were English. They had big name attributions.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Now, the interesting thing is, over the years,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02I checked these and they all turned out to be fakes.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05- LAUGHTER Oh, dear!- So...
0:31:05 > 0:31:07So you've learned the hard way?
0:31:07 > 0:31:10I learned the hard way, exactly, but it didn't cost me anything.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15Despite the steep learning curve, Tom and Bernie began collecting
0:31:15 > 0:31:17British landscapes in earnest,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and when A Sea Beach, Brighton came on the market,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23they thought they saw the hallmarks of a genuine Constable.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27There's so much feeling and emotion in that picture, it really is.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31You have the sky, you have the waves rolling up on the beach,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35you have the two figures that are really just a couple,
0:31:35 > 0:31:39couple of strokes by Constable, but yet they're engaging.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43You have that one little red dot in the middle of this...
0:31:43 > 0:31:48this brown-tone picture, it's, it's just... It's captivating.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51We fell in love with the picture and we decided to go ahead
0:31:51 > 0:31:55and, you know, take a leap of faith.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59Although the painting once belonged to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02it was not included in the definitive index
0:32:02 > 0:32:06of Constable's works compiled by Graham Reynolds in 1984.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10That omission left it merely attributed to Constable
0:32:10 > 0:32:12and worth a fraction of its potential value.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16- I can tell you really love it. - Oh, yeah, we do, we do.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21But how would you feel if someone says it's not by your beloved artist?
0:32:21 > 0:32:25I'd be disappointed, but the picture's still a beautiful picture.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27We love the picture and if that were to happen,
0:32:27 > 0:32:30we would bring it back here and we would say,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34- "Attributed to Constable". - Ha-ha, very good, dear!
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Well, we're going to do our damnedest to take away that word, "attributed".
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Although Tom didn't find his own painting in the book,
0:32:45 > 0:32:50he did find another strikingly similar picture,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53just a half-hour's drive from his front door.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01'It hangs in the Detroit Institute of Arts, a treasure trove
0:33:01 > 0:33:05'of masterpieces assembled by the city's auto barons
0:33:05 > 0:33:07'during its wealthy heyday.'
0:33:09 > 0:33:12THIS Brighton Beach is a genuine Constable
0:33:12 > 0:33:14and it's been here since 1953,
0:33:14 > 0:33:18but does it help or hinder our cause?
0:33:19 > 0:33:21I mean, this is extraordinary, really.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24- You'll have to promise me that you never knew about this. - Never knew about it.
0:33:24 > 0:33:29- Because it's pretty well your picture but a simplified version of it.- That's correct. It is, isn't it?
0:33:29 > 0:33:31I mean, I've got here your image.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33I suppose, at a glance,
0:33:33 > 0:33:35there are a few differences which are worth pointing out.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38I mean, yours is a bit more complicated,
0:33:38 > 0:33:41it's slightly fuller of information, isn't it?
0:33:41 > 0:33:45It is. The activities going on in the middle ground
0:33:45 > 0:33:51among the figures. In my picture, there's an anchor in the front.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54And that anchor is curiously important, isn't it?
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Because it sort of anchors the eye, doesn't it?
0:33:56 > 0:33:59I think it does, it draws your eye right there
0:33:59 > 0:34:02and then your eye moves up to the rigging
0:34:02 > 0:34:05and the activities around the sails and the boats.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10'The problem is that the Catalogue Raisonne claims that this is
0:34:10 > 0:34:13'the only genuine sketch Constable ever did of the scene
0:34:13 > 0:34:16'and that any others must be fakes.'
0:34:18 > 0:34:22'But I have a hunch that this little sketch might actually help
0:34:22 > 0:34:26'prove that Tom's picture is authentic and we're taking it
0:34:26 > 0:34:28'to Alfred Ackerman in the Conservation Department
0:34:28 > 0:34:30'for a closer look.'
0:34:30 > 0:34:31Ah-ha.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Now, the first thing one can see is that it's actually
0:34:35 > 0:34:38paper laid on to canvas, unlike yours, which is canvas.
0:34:38 > 0:34:39- That's correct.- Yes.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43And the other thing is, unlike yours, Tom,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46which is quite brushy, this is a different technique.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48Alfred, how do you think it was done?
0:34:48 > 0:34:52We believe it was done with a palette knife, something
0:34:52 > 0:34:56not too dissimilar from this, where the artist would
0:34:56 > 0:35:01have laid it on broad strokes of paint with this sort of implement.
0:35:02 > 0:35:03The palette knife became
0:35:03 > 0:35:06one of Constable's favourite sketching tools during
0:35:06 > 0:35:11his time in Brighton. He moved to the seaside resort in 1824,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15seeking respite for his dying wife. The town inspired just one
0:35:15 > 0:35:19large work, The Chain Pier, but his countless sketches
0:35:19 > 0:35:23and drawings suggest he planned more paintings on a larger scale.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32And I'm starting to wonder whether Tom's picture
0:35:32 > 0:35:35could be a larger, more ambitious version of this one.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40Why don't we just measure it and find out what the size is
0:35:40 > 0:35:42- in relation to yours. - Fine, yes.- All right.
0:35:42 > 0:35:48Do this in inches first, so we've got roughly 12¾ height...
0:35:50 > 0:35:52..and 19 and seven eighths in width.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Now, how does that equate to the size of yours?
0:35:56 > 0:36:00- It's about half, isn't it? - It's...approximately, yeah.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04The curious symmetry in size suggests that whoever painted
0:36:04 > 0:36:07Tom's picture did so first by copying and enlarging
0:36:07 > 0:36:11the Detroit sketch, a process called "squaring up" that involves
0:36:11 > 0:36:16drawing a grid on a blank canvas and copying the picture in sections.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22So, here we have a picture that looks like yours, which we know to
0:36:22 > 0:36:26be by Constable. It doesn't have all the elements of your picture but
0:36:26 > 0:36:32looks like yours, which is exactly half the size and is on paper.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39I mean, could it be that this might be some...first stage,
0:36:39 > 0:36:44some preparation, some movement towards an idea
0:36:44 > 0:36:46that is further developed in yours?
0:36:46 > 0:36:51I think that this is, in my mind at least, a continuation,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55going into my picture of his thought process,
0:36:55 > 0:36:57and it's a logical progression.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04After an encouraging visit to Detroit, I'm keen to find out
0:37:04 > 0:37:06more about the history of Tom's painting,
0:37:06 > 0:37:10so I've travelled east to Boston to visit the Museum of Fine Arts.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16A Sea Beach, Brighton was sold from this prestigious collection
0:37:16 > 0:37:21in 1992, but when they originally acquired it in 1946,
0:37:21 > 0:37:26they believed it to be a genuine Constable with a chequered past.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31When Tom's picture first emerged publicly,
0:37:31 > 0:37:35it was in extremely august company, here.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40Now, fortunately, I've got the catalogue that describes the picture
0:37:40 > 0:37:45in the exhibition, and it says something extremely interesting.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50"When first discovered, sky, sea and foreground were completely
0:37:50 > 0:37:55"covered with a forger's conception of a Constable."
0:37:55 > 0:38:01In other words, someone had already touched it up with sinister intent.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14The museum actually holds a file on Tom's picture.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18Now, they won't let us film it on the premises, but they've allowed me
0:38:18 > 0:38:21to photocopy the contents, take them away and study them.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30I'm desperate to know more about this murky period
0:38:30 > 0:38:34in the painting's past, and the file contains a dramatic piece
0:38:34 > 0:38:38of evidence - a condition report, describing what it looked like
0:38:38 > 0:38:43when New York art dealer John Mitchell acquired it in 1945.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45Ah, this is interesting.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49This is the condition report, just after they'd bought it.
0:38:51 > 0:38:57"When just discovered by Mitchell," the dealer, "the sea, beach and sky,"
0:38:57 > 0:39:01it says here, "were covered with a forger's work."
0:39:04 > 0:39:09"Blue-green heavy sea, blue-green stormy sky,
0:39:09 > 0:39:14"impastoed rocks," presumably thick paint put on top of the rocks.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18"Removed by Mitchell, but unfortunately no photograph taken."
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Back in Britain, I get a message from Philip about the contents
0:39:26 > 0:39:28of the Boston file.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31'Hi, Fiona, it's Philip speaking from Boston.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34'Er, we've had a look at the file on Tom Toppin's picture.'
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Prior to being bought by the Museum of Fine Arts,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39was covered with over-paint.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44It had been turned into what looked like a more finished Constable,
0:39:44 > 0:39:47what they described as "a forger's conception."
0:39:47 > 0:39:51'It seems, therefore, that there's rather more to this picture
0:39:51 > 0:39:52'and its past than meets the eye.'
0:39:55 > 0:39:59How strange. If you were going to forge a painting,
0:39:59 > 0:40:04why would you paint over a genuine Constable?
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Why would a forger go the trouble of adding new layers of paint
0:40:08 > 0:40:11to a perfectly good Constable sketch?
0:40:12 > 0:40:15I've come to the Tate Gallery's warehouse stores
0:40:15 > 0:40:18in southeast London in search of answers.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21'And I've enlisted the help of Anne Lyles,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24'one of the world's leading Constable experts.'
0:40:25 > 0:40:30When it comes to attribution of Constables, how tricky is it?
0:40:30 > 0:40:35Very tricky. I would reckon Constable probably
0:40:35 > 0:40:39is the most single complicated artist in British art.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43These vast shelves hold many secrets, including paintings
0:40:43 > 0:40:47that were once proudly displayed as genuine works by John Constable,
0:40:47 > 0:40:49but later discredited.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53They include works now known to be by his son, Lionel...
0:40:54 > 0:40:57..fakes by unknown forgers
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and even a sketch that continues to divide opinion.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04I'm asked to look at things the whole time that are clearly
0:41:04 > 0:41:06imitations, fakes or forgeries.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10As I say, sometimes the dividing line between what's
0:41:10 > 0:41:13an imitation passing into a fake or forgery
0:41:13 > 0:41:17can be quite difficult to define, but there's one person out there
0:41:17 > 0:41:20who we know almost certainly was an outright faker and forger,
0:41:20 > 0:41:23and he's called James Orrock.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26Born in Edinburgh in 1829,
0:41:26 > 0:41:31James Orrock practised as a dentist before pursuing his passion for art.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37He became an accomplished painter in his own right but as an art dealer,
0:41:37 > 0:41:43he was suspected of "touching up" sketches to increase their value.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47There is a suspicion with Orrock that with his painterly skills,
0:41:47 > 0:41:51he may well have over-painted pictures that he owned and bought
0:41:51 > 0:41:57for resale, perhaps passing them off as other things knowingly,
0:41:57 > 0:41:59or perhaps persuading himself they were all right
0:41:59 > 0:42:02but he might just titillate them a little bit.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05And so he was taking paintings that existed already, by whoever
0:42:05 > 0:42:09had painted them, over-painting them to make them look like Constable.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12I think he was always prepared to push the boundaries
0:42:12 > 0:42:16in the direction of fake or forgery in a way that other people weren't.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19So, when looking at Constables, we need to have Orrock in mind,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23- somewhere in the back of our minds? - We... Absolutely, very important.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30Back at the gallery, Bendor and I meet to take stock.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34Seeing those dubious Constables at the Tate
0:42:34 > 0:42:37has worried me a bit, you know. Particularly now that Philip
0:42:37 > 0:42:40has confirmed that someone has tampered with Sea Beach, Brighton.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42I don't think it's as bad as you think, actually,
0:42:42 > 0:42:44because the key word here is "tampered with".
0:42:44 > 0:42:47We know it's not an out-and-out fake from beginning to end.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50So what we've possibly got is something that started life
0:42:50 > 0:42:53as an original Constable and then someone painted over to make it
0:42:53 > 0:42:57look like a more finished picture. A little bit like this, in fact.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59- So, what, added in new, fresh layers of paint...- Yeah.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02..to fill in, what, the sky or the sea, the rocks, that kind of thing?
0:43:02 > 0:43:04To make it a more valuable picture
0:43:04 > 0:43:06and a more aesthetically pleasing one.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09But I've got an idea as to who might have done that,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13because a picture was sold in 1895 at Christie's.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17Picture here sold, Brighton Beach, and you probably recognise
0:43:17 > 0:43:20- the name of the vendor. - Mm, James Orrock.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23Indeed, our favourite Constable faker, James Orrock.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26Now, I can't prove that Tom's picture
0:43:26 > 0:43:30is the one that James Orrock sold in 1895, but the thing is,
0:43:30 > 0:43:32we know that someone has tampered with this picture,
0:43:32 > 0:43:35and what we need to do now is prove that the original
0:43:35 > 0:43:38layers of paint are in fact by Constable and no-one else.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41Of course, that's not the only painting with a hidden past.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44Gilly's Yarmouth Jetty's got a few secrets, hasn't it?
0:43:44 > 0:43:46- Yeah, now this mystery portrait.- Mm.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49- Isn't this completely fascinating? - Incredible.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52It's almost impossible to make an artistic judgement about the X-ray
0:43:52 > 0:43:54of a painting beneath a painting.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58But we do know that Constable did do portraits early on in his career.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02Like most artists, he had to do them to earn his bread and butter.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05I particularly like this example of Mary Freer on the right here,
0:44:05 > 0:44:07which is dated to 1809.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11What we'd like to know is something about the date of the portrait
0:44:11 > 0:44:14- that we're dealing with.- Well, just put the X-ray back for a second.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16I've done some research about what our mystery gentleman
0:44:16 > 0:44:18is wearing there, and from what I can see,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21it's all about the neck cloth or the cravat,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24because that is where fashion was at for men,
0:44:24 > 0:44:29sort of late 18th, early 19th century and there were manuals
0:44:29 > 0:44:32devoted to the different ways men could tie their neck cloth,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36and judging by the height and knot of that neck cloth,
0:44:36 > 0:44:39- that is about right for Constable's time.- Mm.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42It would suggest that he's a gentleman,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45so he could be a patron who's commissioned a portrait
0:44:45 > 0:44:49or he could be a Constable family member.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53So I guess the next question is, if this portrait IS by Constable,
0:44:53 > 0:44:55- then why would he paint over it?- Mm.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05Back in America, I've travelled to Philadelphia
0:45:05 > 0:45:07to follow up one last lead.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10We'll need to convince Constable experts
0:45:10 > 0:45:15that A Sea Beach, Brighton fits into a known pattern of work.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17And I think I've found a compelling example
0:45:17 > 0:45:21here in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28I've joined up with Tom and Bernie and curator Jenny Thompson
0:45:28 > 0:45:30to examine two authentic Constable sketches
0:45:30 > 0:45:33that date from his time in Brighton.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36So the Chain Pier sketches are just in this gallery.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Oh, that's striking isn't it?
0:45:38 > 0:45:40I mean what do you think's going on here, Jenny?
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Well, Constable's, I think, working towards his exhibition picture.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48He chooses...probably the first step is a quarter-size sketch
0:45:48 > 0:45:51really playing around here, I think, with the number,
0:45:51 > 0:45:53the buildings and the pier, on the beach
0:45:53 > 0:45:55and then he'll work on the half-size sketch
0:45:55 > 0:45:57and this picture is looking a little bit
0:45:57 > 0:46:01more at the figures, I think, on the foreground.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05The way Constable is working here is uncannily familiar.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09A small first draft using palette knife on paper,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12just like the Sea Beach sketch in Detroit.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14A larger oil sketch on canvas...
0:46:16 > 0:46:17..just like Tom's picture.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20Not only does the technique look the same,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23the dimensions are an exact match too.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28Tom, what's your view of this?
0:46:28 > 0:46:30I think the similarity is striking.
0:46:30 > 0:46:35We have the Detroit picture of Brighton Beach,
0:46:35 > 0:46:37we have my picture of Brighton Beach
0:46:37 > 0:46:40we have these two pictures in this museum,
0:46:40 > 0:46:43which are analogous to those two pictures,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47so it would mean that my picture would fit in
0:46:47 > 0:46:51with this step procedure that John Constable did
0:46:51 > 0:46:53in working up to a major picture.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04Our visit to Philadelphia might have brought us one step closer
0:47:04 > 0:47:08to the proof that Tom and Bernie have spent 20 years searching for.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12But with scientific analysis still to come from Sarah Cove,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15I want to know how confident they're really feeling.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20In my heart I still feel it's a Constable.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24I'd like to see what the scientific evidence has to say about it.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27I said before to you and I'm going to say it again.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31I'm 100% confident that the picture is by Constable,
0:47:31 > 0:47:35it came from his... originated from his heart
0:47:35 > 0:47:37and it was developed in his mind.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46When Philip gets back from America,
0:47:46 > 0:47:49we reconvene and head back to Sarah Cove's studio.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54She's been examining the paintings in minute detail.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56But has she found proof that A Sea Beach Brighton
0:47:56 > 0:48:00WAS squared up from the small sketch in Detroit?
0:48:01 > 0:48:05When I looked at this painting under the microscope,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07I could see around the edges
0:48:07 > 0:48:14in places like this in particular, little ink strokes,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18which were marked at specific intervals -
0:48:18 > 0:48:20there's another one -
0:48:20 > 0:48:25and then measured exactly and then lines were drawn
0:48:25 > 0:48:29vertically and horizontally to form a grid
0:48:29 > 0:48:32for squaring up. And not only that -
0:48:32 > 0:48:34then the composition was drawn in,
0:48:34 > 0:48:38taken precisely from the Detroit sketch.
0:48:38 > 0:48:43These very calligraphic kind of squiggles are very typical
0:48:43 > 0:48:46of the type of under-drawing that Constable did
0:48:46 > 0:48:49and there are some others, you can see there,
0:48:49 > 0:48:51there's one in the sky.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56Obviously a forger could have done that, but to a degree,
0:48:56 > 0:49:00it's almost like a kind of handwriting.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04So Constable may be giving himself away by his working practice.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10Sarah's even found something that's almost as good as a signature -
0:49:10 > 0:49:13evidence that the blank canvas was prepared
0:49:13 > 0:49:17with an initial textured layer of paint favoured by Constable.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20In this painting in particular,
0:49:20 > 0:49:26he's prepared the canvas with a pink stippled priming which you can see
0:49:26 > 0:49:32most noticeably in the landscape areas. As far as I know,
0:49:32 > 0:49:34this pink stippled priming was not,
0:49:34 > 0:49:39has not been used by any other contemporary painters.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43So you've looked at hundreds of works by Constable,
0:49:43 > 0:49:47you've examined them, you know him better than most.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51- In your view is this by Constable? - Yes.
0:49:51 > 0:49:56I would have no hesitation in saying that this is definitely a Constable.
0:49:57 > 0:49:58Bingo.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01Well we're certainly getting there.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04Sarah's technical opinion of A Sea Beach, Brighton
0:50:04 > 0:50:06is thrillingly frank,
0:50:06 > 0:50:08but what does she make of Yarmouth Jetty?
0:50:08 > 0:50:11What do you think of our mystery gentleman?
0:50:11 > 0:50:14Well, I did say to you, have an X-ray done,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17didn't I? From looking at the surface under the microscope,
0:50:17 > 0:50:22as far as I can tell, not only is there what appears to be
0:50:22 > 0:50:28a portrait of a man in a cravat and probably a black coat,
0:50:28 > 0:50:33but I think, on top of that, there's a portrait of a woman,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37in a large white bonnet, which you can see here.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40You can see the edges of the frills,
0:50:40 > 0:50:45which are the edges of frilly brush strokes really.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49That would have been the lace trim round the edge of the bonnet.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Oh, I thought it was just wacky hair.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53But that's another portrait on top of it?
0:50:53 > 0:50:56No, men at that date didn't really have wild hair-dos.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59So what you're saying is, this canvas has not just been used once,
0:50:59 > 0:51:01not even twice - three times?
0:51:01 > 0:51:04It's been used at least three times.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08By taking tiny samples of paint from different sections
0:51:08 > 0:51:12of the picture, Sarah can identify colourful details
0:51:12 > 0:51:14in each portrait.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16The frills of a white bonnet,
0:51:16 > 0:51:18the yellow flash of a brooch,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21the edge of a red cloak,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24brown hair and a smart black jacket.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30Is it possible to tell who they might be?
0:51:30 > 0:51:33It's not very easy because the image that you're actually seeing
0:51:33 > 0:51:35at the moment is two faces
0:51:35 > 0:51:38superimposed, one on top of the other.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41So although these eyes appear to be very clear,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44we don't know whether they're the man's eyes or the woman's eyes,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47so we can't really tell who it is.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50If it was just one face, it would be much easier
0:51:50 > 0:51:52to read than it is now.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55And is there anything about that that makes you think it's
0:51:55 > 0:51:57more likely or less likely to be by Constable?
0:51:57 > 0:52:02I think the fact that the canvas has been reused a number of times
0:52:02 > 0:52:05is a thing that we know that Constable did.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10We know that he often had complete disregard
0:52:10 > 0:52:12for the preparation of the canvas,
0:52:12 > 0:52:16so the fact that one's painted directly over another
0:52:16 > 0:52:20with no intervening layer, you know, shows that he didn't
0:52:20 > 0:52:24care about it, really, whether it lasted, whether it all wrinkled up.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26So, in your researches,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30have you come across anything that would be not typical of a Constable?
0:52:30 > 0:52:35It's almost certain that areas of the clouds
0:52:35 > 0:52:38and particularly this very bright blue,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41of which there are two to three layers,
0:52:41 > 0:52:47some of that has probably been applied by a later hand,
0:52:47 > 0:52:51to cover up the wrinkling and the cracking in the surface.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53What, like you see here? This kind of thing.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Yeah, you can see, and that is coming through from the portraits.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00So both Tom and Gilly's picture share the same fate.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03Someone, at some point, has tried to make them
0:53:03 > 0:53:05look more like a Constable.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09- True.- But 64,000 question - do you think this IS a Constable?
0:53:09 > 0:53:13I think this one's much more difficult to make
0:53:13 > 0:53:16an absolutely definite judgment about
0:53:16 > 0:53:20because there are so many different things going on on this canvas.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24But I think there are sufficient things
0:53:24 > 0:53:26that look like Constable,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30that if I had to come down on one side of the line or the other,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33I would say I do think it is a Constable.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40Well, I don't think that could have gone any better, really.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43I mean, Sarah, from a technical point of view, is convinced that
0:53:43 > 0:53:45both our paintings are by Constable.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48She's examined something like 200 works by John Constable,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51so she knows what she's talking about.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Sadly her opinion alone isn't enough to take us to the end
0:53:55 > 0:54:00of the road with those paintings, but it gets us a long way down it.
0:54:00 > 0:54:05Sarah's bullish opinion has now prompted Tom Toppin
0:54:05 > 0:54:09to take a leap of faith and finally have that layer of varnish
0:54:09 > 0:54:11removed from A Sea Beach, Brighton.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13It's one last gamble
0:54:13 > 0:54:15in their bid to prove that the painting
0:54:15 > 0:54:18is authentic, because we need to prove our case
0:54:18 > 0:54:22to the art world and also the art market.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27We've asked Constable expert Annie Lyles, and David Moore-Gwyn,
0:54:27 > 0:54:29Deputy Chairman of Sotheby's,
0:54:29 > 0:54:31with a background in multi-million pound Constable sales,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34to scrutinise the pictures and our evidence.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37Now that it's been cleaned it's removed that yellow,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40sort of almost yellow film all over it.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42With Tom and Bernie over from America,
0:54:42 > 0:54:44and Gilly on her way,
0:54:44 > 0:54:48Annie is about to reveal whether the paintings are genuine.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50First up, Yarmouth Jetty.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52So, Gilly, this is the moment.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56How are you feeling about it all?
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Fairly excited and pretty apprehensive.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01But it's been a great journey.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03I've been pondering this picture.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05I've been thinking about it long and hard.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09And slightly mixed views, I think.
0:55:09 > 0:55:14Still some positive things to say but it's not all plain sailing!
0:55:14 > 0:55:17There is some Constable in this picture
0:55:17 > 0:55:21but it's been heavily over-painted by another hand,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25particularly in the sky, probably also in the sea,
0:55:25 > 0:55:30so what we see is a mix of maybe some Constable and another hand.
0:55:30 > 0:55:31What do you think of that?
0:55:31 > 0:55:33Well, it's interesting to think
0:55:33 > 0:55:35there's any Constable in there, isn't it?
0:55:35 > 0:55:38Well, I think we're a bit further on, aren't we?
0:55:38 > 0:55:41Yes, we are, we're a lot further on than where we were.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Yeah, that's good.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46To be able to say that it is Constable and not anybody else,
0:55:46 > 0:55:49is it a question of now trying to remove some paint?
0:55:49 > 0:55:51Well, I have to say, this is very difficult,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54to know what to do at the next stage, and I think it depends
0:55:54 > 0:55:57on you, your patience, your interest in the picture and so on.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02At this stage, and in this state, it's really hanging in the balance.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06Yarmouth Jetty still has more secrets to give up.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08But now it's Tom and Bernie's turn.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13Was A Sea Beach, Brighton painted by John Constable?
0:56:13 > 0:56:16There has been uncertainty about this picture for some years.
0:56:16 > 0:56:22However, with Constable, always technical examination is crucial
0:56:22 > 0:56:26and with this, what's happened is that the conservation analysis
0:56:26 > 0:56:30has simply, in my view, removed any doubts.
0:56:30 > 0:56:31Everything fits.
0:56:31 > 0:56:36The tonality - that relates to a working sketch in progress.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38There are no problems about it in my view.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42I like it even more now since it's been cleaned, I have to say.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46Any auction house would be happy to give it the full attribution.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49John Constable, plain and simple.
0:56:49 > 0:56:50With the dates, of course.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53- Yes! - THEY CHUCKLE
0:56:53 > 0:56:57Is that a tear in your eye there? Look at you!
0:56:57 > 0:57:00That is going to be such a blessing to so many people.
0:57:00 > 0:57:05I mean, it is, it's going... This is going to bless a lot of people.
0:57:05 > 0:57:06Thank you so much.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09And, crucially, from a financial point of view,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12you're dealing with, with a half-a-million-pound picture,
0:57:12 > 0:57:16- I mean, I could see this...- Wow!
0:57:16 > 0:57:20I could see this now at auction at 400,000 to £600,000.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23On a good day, with the wind behind it, as they say,
0:57:23 > 0:57:26you could almost be talking about a million-dollar picture.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29- Oh, that's wonderful.- So, not bad from your initial investment.- No.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32- No, not at all. - It turned out well.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34But the big thing is, not only the money,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38but the gratification of looking at that picture,
0:57:38 > 0:57:41knowing it's a Constable and appreciating it as such.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45Our tale of two Constables began with letters and emails
0:57:45 > 0:57:47sent from around the world
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and ends with a painting restored to its rightful place
0:57:50 > 0:57:53as a work by one of England's finest artists.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57And there's more good news for Gilly Dance,
0:57:57 > 0:58:00because further restoration work has now convinced Annie Lyles
0:58:00 > 0:58:03that Yarmouth Jetty was also likely
0:58:03 > 0:58:05to have been painted by John Constable.