Fake or Fortune: Is a £35 painting worth £50,000?

The picture was listed as by Vera Cunningham, part of a job lot of two bought by Robjn Cantus in 2019 for £35

An art blogger will soon discover if a painting he bought for £35 is by a well-known New Zealand artist and worth up to £50,000.

Robjn Cantus, who lives near Cambridge, bought the picture in 2019, when Hertfordshire County Council sold off its mid-20th Century art collection.

Attributed to Vera Cunningham, he now believed it was by Frances Hodgkins (1869- 1947) and he said he "bought it because it was the right price, £35 isn't a lot".

The story of his quest features on BBC One's Fake or Fortune on Monday. The council said it "took professional advice on the value of each of these pieces" ahead of the sale.

This picture by Frances Hodgkins is typical of her later style featuring "very loose paintings of items like rusty tractors or farmyards", he said

"The painting came up for sale as some of the less important works from the Hertfordshire Council Pictures for Schools Scheme in 2019," said Mr Cantus.

"I went on a bit of a trolly-dash buying the works, as many were not expensive and there were many items in each lot."

Mr Cantus needed illustrations for a book he has since written on Pictures for Schools.

This was a 20th Century project, the brainchild of Nan Youngman, which bought modern British art to lend to schools and "give children artwork that was inspiring to look at".

The council made more than £440,000 from its initial sale of the artworks.

A council spokesperson said the sell-off followed a review of its collection and a public consultation.

"We sold a number of works judged to have little or no significance to Hertfordshire at auction in 2019... with the money raised being invested in local services," they said.

"One of our aims in selling these works was to find them a better home than our storerooms where they could be properly displayed and appreciated, so whilst it may turn out that this specific painting was worth more, we are pleased that it has found a good home with a new owner."

Who was Frances Hodgkins?

• Born in New Zealand, she left in 1901 and spent the rest of her life in Europe

• A breakthrough in public recognition came in 1929 when her friend and fellow artist Cedric Morris suggested she should be selected for the Seven & Five Society, exhibiting alongside Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Henry Moore

• By the 1940s, her work was being lauded in the British press

• Today, she is little known outside her native New Zealand, where the galleries have been "very active in buying and repatriating the works", said Mr Cantus

Source: Art UK

It transpired there was another painting on the reverse of the painting bought by Mr Cantus and he believed they were both works by Frances Hodgkins not Vera Cunningham

Mr Cantus admitted he did not even want the picture, but he did want to acquire works by Vera Cunningham - and it was sold as a pair attributed to Cunningham.

"The Fake or Fortune picture had been put in a horrid 1970s frame, when the original frame was damaged," he said.

The original labels on its back were lost and "then it is likely someone guessed it was a Vera Cunningham and wrote it on the back".

Mr Cantus put a photograph of it on his blog and thought no more about it until 2021, when someone got in touch to suggest it might be by Ms Hodgkins.

Taking it out of the frame, he discovered another painting on the other side of the canvas.

Fake or Fortune is presented by art expert Philip Mould and Fiona Bruce (centre), who "was always shockingly well prepared each day for the show", said Mr Cantus

Having done as much investigating as he could, he got in touch with Fake or Fortune because "it gives members of the public the chance to get a painting validated".

"I enjoyed what happened off the camera as much as on," he said.

"Then you have an out-of-body experience: 'Why am I up a hill, in Wales, with Fiona Bruce, looking at a Roman goldmine?'."

The outcome of the investigation is not being revealed until the programme goes out.

"I stopped thinking of the painting when I cycled back from London with it in a Primark bag," he added.

Fake or Fortune is on BBC One at 21:00 BST on Monday.