A
Northumbria University scientist will help prove a famous painting’s
authenticity on the hit BBC show Fake or Fortune.
Dr
Kate Nicholson’s forensic expertise will be put to the test when the show airs
on Sunday 2nd September at 8pm on BBC 1.
Kate
will join presenter Fiona Bruce and art dealer Philip Mould to investigate a
rare portrait from the 18th century featuring people of colour in a
prominent role. Both paintings investigated in this episode are highly unusual
in their positive depiction of black portrait subjects at a time when Britain
was still heavily engaged in slavery.
The
show’s producers hope that new forensic and documentary evidence will reveal
the artists who broke with the conventions of the time to paint these
exceptional works.
Kate said: “We used a number of forensic art
techniques such as x-ray fluorescence, reflectance spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to allow both the composition of the pigments and the binder to be
identified.
“The
process - including field sampling and analysis back at the lab - took two
days. We are the only group in the country that can be mobile and analyse
paintings in situ anywhere in the world. Other places require the sample to be
brought back to the lab, but just moving some of these paintings can cost
millions of pounds.”
The
first painting is a double portrait featuring Dido Belle, a former slave who
became a member of the aristocratic Mansfield family. The painting is on
display at Scone Palace in Scotland and was commissioned by the first Lord
Mansfield, Dido Belle's guardian, sometime in the late 1770s or early 1780s at
the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In recent years, Belle's
incredible story has inspired books and a feature film about her life. Now the
current Lady Mansfield is determined to discover the name of the artist who
painted her.
The
second painting is even more unusual - two beautifully dressed black girls
holding a book in what appears to be a tropical landscape. Early clues suggest
this could be a political painting somehow connected to the campaign to abolish
slavery in Britain's colonies.
The
quest to solve both mysteries throws up some prime suspects from a golden era
of British portraiture and all will be revealed during Sunday night’s show.
Northumbria’s specialism in
both the Conservation of Fine Art and in Chemistry means the University has a
strong track record of analysing art for conservation. Kate, who has worked at
Northumbria since 2015, is currently writing a book called ‘Medieval Pigment use
in Manuscripts of the British Isles’ and has analysed famous works including
the Lindisfarne Gospels, during her career.
