priest Father Jamie MacLeod purchased the artwork for just £400 (Image: BBC)
An guest has been dealt a heartbreaking blow after his painting, once valued at up to £500,000, shockingly failed to sell at auction.
Derbyshire priest Father Jamie MacLeod purchased the artwork for just £400 from an antique shop in Cheshire in 1992. Years later, it was revealed to be a genuine Van Dyck masterpiece during a dramatic discovery on the show.
Antiques Roadshow presenter first raised suspicions about the painting’s authenticity. “I was making a programme about Van Dyck at the time, and when I saw the painting, I thought it might be genuine,” Bruce explained.
“When I saw something about the eyes and the way you can see the bone under the nose here, it just looked similar to the kind of paintings I’d been looking at, so I thought, ‘Who knows, it could be?’.”
She brought in art expert Phillip Mould to examine the piece. After months of painstaking work to restore the painting to its original form, art experts concluded that the work was, in fact, an original Anthony Van Dyke, and that it was worth over £500k.
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The painting was revealed to be a genuine Van Dyck masterpiece (Image: BBC)
Father MacLeod burst into laughter and smiled after being told the news, where he admitted, “I’m just completely in shock.”
The painting, believed to be a preparatory sketch for The Magistrates of Brussels, offered a rare glimpse into the artist’s working methods. The original group portrait was tragically destroyed during a French attack on Brussels in 1695.
Ahead of the auction at Christie’s in London, Freddie de Rougemont, a specialist at the auction house, described the painting as “of great importance”.
He said: “The picture is of great importance as it provides a fascinating insight into Van Dyck’s working method and also constitutes a significant surviving document for the artist’s lost group portrait of The Magistrates of Brussels.”
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Fiona Bruce spotted a familiar feature in a painting (Image: BBC)
Despite high hopes and its sky-high valuation, the painting failed to find a buyer, leaving Father MacLeod disappointed after what had seemed like an extraordinary stroke of luck.
While the Van Dyck sketch didn’t fetch a bid, another Old Master stole the show at the same auction. Saint Praxedis by Johannes Vermeer—one of only two Vermeer works still in private hands—sold for a jaw-dropping £6.2 million.
The Vermeer painting, once plagued by doubts over its authenticity, was confirmed as genuine after scientific tests found the paint consistent with other works by the artist. The sale proceeds went to the charitable foundation of late US collector Barbara Piasecka Johnson, who previously owned the piece.
Van Dyck, renowned for his portraits of British royalty and nobility, remains one of the art world’s most celebrated names.