Revealing the Truth Behind a Venetian Masterpiece | Perspective

But in the end, look at what an amazing story this painting now has.

This series has become my new favourite mystery series. It helps that I have stood on the sidewalk across from this site and so remember it well! A thing of Beauty often has no price!

I love the storytelling. I find myself on pins and needles until the end. Brilliant.❤❤
One thing that bothers me is the papers held without gloves.
Imagine collecting fingerprints from all these documents years and years ago.
But not sure how long oils from fingerprints last. Still be very interesting.

I feel like I only ever see negativ results on this show

Great episode.
That Florentine seal should be investigate further, IMO. Are there other suspect versions of this type of wax seal around the place?
Finally, I'm always intrigued by the uniquely British slant of, "What's it worth?" Whatever the Brits may think about the aesthetics of something, it always seems to get trumped by the mighty GBP!

Hm i’ve watched almost all episodes, and it’s the first time I feel not enough research was done to attach a name to this.

So his grandfather was either a fraudster or duped or indeed, both.

It's now a very tough world for a forger to make a buck! Makes you long for the age of innocence when even the victim went home quite happy with their purchase.🌞

Maybe the grandfather needed money so bought a copy and sold the original? Then again, it was stored during the war by a third party…who could have substituted a fake for the original.

Intriguing story filled with many twists and turns. Fun adventure and the painting is beautiful. 🌞

One loose end IMO. The speculation is the seal is a fake. Are there not examples of what real seals look like? Also, over more than 200 years did the seals stay the same? If they changed, that would narrow down the date it went through the court, if it did. I am also surprised they did no see the Christies stock number on the frame at the very beginning.

Guardi would never inject a dominating symetry, nor would he allow the rigorous horizontal theme in the sky. Marieschi? Maybe, but when noticing chimneys dutifully arranged to the right, and on the left ... a starkly boring set, with cloned figues, some without shadows? No. It appears to be fake, because the Basillica is poorly illuminated, belabored, and gloomy.



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It's quite interesting to see how Venice's landscape hasn't changed too much through the centuries. I hope to visit there someday.

I love how the x-ray gun actually looks like a x-ray gun. No need saying that I want one. Fabolous Show btw.!

" If anything it is more Beautiful Now, than it was' said Nick Hopkins. Very special way of putting the Blow he just received, but oh so Wise and Resilient!

Nothing like country hopping. It gets tiring after a while.

How sad.I feel for Nick 😂

I like that judge,straight up.

I would be gutted.Damn.😢

This is priceless,A FAKE.😮😮😮

Honestly I don't want to know the artist, if it's mine, then its mine, sometimes the arrogance of the eye can ruin the view of the dreamer.

The wax mark gets us back to 1808, forging that would be extremely difficult. But alot of paintings were made for tourists, I find it hard to believe to do them in time you'd use vermilion underneath, it slows the construction time. Also the dark quality of the building lowers acceptance of potential buyers. Still alot of questions!

My question is how would one get a stamp from Florence in order to put it on the back. Begs for more investigative information.

If you love something buy it regardless of what it may be worth

Are they still making these videos ?

If the painting is beautiful why is the name of the artist so important.

It is worth noting that artists can and will change or evolve their style over their lifetime, so a difference in detail on the cupola is not particularly significant.

It'd be nice, from time to time, y'all might show a "fortune" find...was much too invested in this journey.

The stamp was not 'made in Florence'.... they totally destroyed any value that painting had.

It's great now to see that Nick inherited the painting and didn't buy it. And, this show exploits how absolutely sinister and cutthroat the artworld can be.

Maybe, he had students doing the unsigned examples

Fiona , be carefull about the refference of old when reffering to people .😊

LOVELY JUBBLY _ the flattened image reminds me of a technique used by theatre painters for example - Canaletto created his vedute as miniature theater stages, depicting comic or dramatic scenes of everyday Venetian life. In the Capriccio view of the Courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale with the Scala dei Giganti, the scene is set in an eminent spot of Venetian life: the Doge’s Palace, housing the city’s seat of power. The Republic’s supreme authority, the Doge of Venice, had legislative, executive, and judicial powers. The courtyard of the Doge’s Palace, famous for its Giants’ Staircase, or Scala dei Giganti in Italian, is flanked by two colossal statues of Mars and Neptune, and it was the heart of Venice’s political life. In this painting, both eminent Venetian personalities and simple folk gather in the courtyard, offering a lively depiction of the city. Some artists used camera obscura as a reference to aid, which can also flatten images depending on lense. Although Canelletto probably did not directly use camera obscura, it might have been used as an aid during composition of frames and following artists would have known the technology too.

it is a lovely painting and not the result 'hoped for' but they still get it far back with quite a story and an interesting story thats not a 100% figured out but almost more intriguing because its more mysterious

I don’t love that the only Guardi painting they showed was no real comparison at all to this painting. Like not even close. Surely he painted better more elaborate pictures than that

Fascinating show!Mystery...love it!

INVERTED FREAKSHOW AS USUAL THE BOYS ARE GIRLS THE GIRLS ARE BOYS BORING AND UGLY

Very enjoyable episode. I can fully understand the final evaluation and the facts supporting that it was painted by a non-Venetian, but somehow the inference that the wax stamp is therefore a false "made in Italy" insignia does not convince. Wouldn't they have falsified a Venetian provenance? Couldn't here be some explanation for the painting coming through the Florentine probate court?

The final decision was not surprising. Why did they not go to this well know expert originally ?

previous so called EXPERTS ARE JUST THEIR OPINION---THEY OFTEN GOT IT WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though it wasn’t an actual forgery England should be immediately attacked by international naval forces.

Those are people relly mainly on their Reputation thats why its so hard for them to revert a verdict they already made ... Sad part in Art is it was controled by so called experts whos Ego are tooooooo high 😊

The travel postcards were a bit on the large hefty side in those days. Photographic postcards undermined the copy studios in Venice and left them colourising photographs of the landscapes and buildings. A lot cheaper to lug home.

Just like Art Detectives

Hola cordiales saludos excelente .nunca responden . Tienen cómo venir A Colombia . hablemos de negocios grandes genios de la pintura universal .el Red boy Lawrence original . Eugenio Lucas Villamil . @ Jacobo 724

Pretentious and vapid at the same time.

So sad! I thought it was the real thing!!! Well it still looks amazing!

Not even two minutes in and I'm panting with expectation and hope that you'll cover the old, old Mojave Desert petroglyphs... I grew up with them, along with the Naval Weapons Center, which protects them (of all things). We used to go out for day hikes and see them when I was a kid--towering black weathered basalt boulders with white images of bighorn sheep, warriors, and mysterious shaman or extraterrestrial beings chipped in, @ 9,000-11,000 years ago. Up the road about an hour to the north are two ancient cinder cones, from which these archaic artists obtained lumps of obsidian for tipping their arrows and atlatls (at great risk to themselves). They traded this exact obsidian all the way out across North America to the Ohio Mound People, where the volcanic glass has been found in the mounds. Volcanic eruptions issue a chemical signature when they erupt, so it's possible to trace the obsidian used by various cultures.
My father gathered literal buckets of obsidian from these cones as a young man, and now my mother has ordered him to ship it off. I got some, and my sister works for Oregon State University, which didn't have any of this particular signature...So she delivered quite a bit to them to save it from the dump!
Amazing how far history travels.

The best painting owner i ever seen. Hugs from Brazil !

Oh that is a beautiful painting! I'm so glad he doesn't feel obligated to sell it, it's gorgeous.