Antiques Roadshow guest gobsmacked after finding out staggering price of family heirloom
15.03.2023 - 21:14
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A guest on Antiques Roadshow was left so stunned by a painting valuation he hid behind the work of art. The unnamed guest said the painting had been in his family for 65 years.
He suspected it was by famous artist David Hockney. Hockney was a key contributor to the pop art movement in the 1960s, and at first glance art expert Rupert Maas wasn't convinced it was an original piece.
The guest brought the green-washed landscape painting on the BBC show and said he believed the artwork was painted when Hockney was very young, before he went on to develop his style. But after estimating its worth to be £10,000, the guest was left lost for words when its true value was revealed to be between £20,000 and £30,000.
Rupert began: “We are sitting here all day and people bring pictures and the thing they want to know is, is it or isn't it by the artist they say it's by. In this case, your picture says it's by David Hockney. This is not at all what I am used to seeing by David Hockney. David Hockney is one of Britain's leading modern painters, so you will have to tell me what your case is.”
The guest then explained: “My grandfather saw two young artists on the platform when he was a signalman on a tiny station in Trimley St Mary between Felixstowe and Ipswich. He noticed their equipment so he invited them into the signal box and gave them a cup of tea.
“He eventually invited them home for Sunday lunch because they were living in [difficult] circumstances. So they came to Sunday lunch and he said, 'Bring a painting', and Wallace brought a painting from each of them.
"A year later, he brandish a piece of paper saying one of these guys had won the gold medal at the Royal College of Art. So that is my case, that it is a Hockney.”
In response,