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Fake or Fortune?

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Journalist Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould investigate mysteries behind paintings.

Fiona Bruce teams up with expert Philip Mould to investigate mysteries behind intriguing works of art. Are they potentially priceless or crafty copies?

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Fiona Bruce

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Fake or Fortune?: Series 6: Episode 2: Tom Roberts

Documentaries

Tom Roberts

Episode 2

Episode 2: Tom Roberts

Series 6

BBC One - Fake or Fortune?, Series 6, Tom Roberts

Is a purchase from an online auction site a lost work by Australian artist Tom Roberts?

Art series with Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould. The team try to prove that an online purchase is a lost work by Tom Roberts, one of Australia's greatest artists.

The team embark on a long-distance investigation to Australia as they try to prove that an online purchase from an English auction site is a lost work by Tom Roberts, considered one of Australia's greatest artists.

When Australian couple Joe and Rosanna Natoli came across a painting bearing the signature Tom Roberts on the website of an English auction site, they couldn't quite believe it. Roberts is considered one of Australia's most important artists - a pioneer of Australian Impressionism whose works hangs in major galleries. Even minor pictures sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds and the painting, a dramatic image of an anguished artist titled Rejected, had all the hallmarks of a lost early work. After a fierce bidding war, Joe bought the painting, shipped it back to Brisbane and presented it to a leading expert on the artist's work - only to be told that it was not genuine.

This was just the beginning of Joe and Rosanna's troubles. Three years after they bought the painting, Joe's business went bankrupt and the family lost their home. Joe still firmly believes that his original hunch was right, and he has asked Fake or Fortune for help. As an early work by Tom Roberts, the picture could be worth over £200,000. If the team can prove that Joe was right all along, it might give the family a chance to secure a home of their own.

The team believes some of the answers to the mystery lie in Tom Roberts's time in England, where he trained at the Royal Academy in the 1880s. The quest for further proof takes them to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, where they encounter several alarming fakes. Can the team find enough evidence to earn the painting a second hearing?

Fake or Fortune?: Series 6

BBC One

Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould investigate mysteries behind paintings.

Fiona Bruce teams up with art expert Philip Mould to investigate mysteries behind paintings.

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Episode 2: Tom Roberts

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