An Antiques Roadshow guest pulled a face when he was told just how much his mother’s painting was worth.
Filming at Pollok Park, Glasgow, expert Charlotte Riordan met with a man who presented with a a piece of art from 19th Century painter Edward Atkinson Hornel.
Explaining his link to the artwork, the guest shared: “It’s an old family friend of my parents, a woman called Mrs Smith.
“We lived in a tenement building so she had this hanging in the wall of a tenement building in Glasgow.
“And my parents took care of her for about 40 years and when she died, she left that to them.”
Antiques Roadshow guest confesses plan to ‘be nice’ to his mum to get hands on ‘rare’ painting worth thousands (Image: BBC)
An Antiques Roadshow expert valued a Edward Atkinson Hornel painting for £10,000. (Image: BBC)
Commenting that it was a “really special gift”, Riordan said that Hornel was part of the Glasgow Boys who was a group of around 20 artists at the turn of the century in Glasgow who were rebelling against “staid Victorian traditions”.
“They were looking at Europe, Hornel studied in Antwerp.
“They were going and studying in places like France and Belgium. Basically, they were modernists. They were the Scottish modernists of the day.”
The expert said that “arguably the best decade” for Hornel was the 1890s, when this particular painting was made, as it was following an 18-month funded trip to Japan with fellow artist George Henry.
“And very much like the other post-Impressionists, so like Van Gogh, people like that, they were looking at Japanese prints for inspiration.
“And that’s why you get this lovely little upright format. You get this kind of close cropping, this foreshortening.
“It’s very, very much inspired by Japanese printmaking and it’s very decorative.
“And also, you get this lovely sort of jewel-like palette which is very classic Glasgow Boys.”
An Antiques Roadshow guest joked he would need to “be nice” to his mum after painting gets four-figure value. (Image: BBC)
She went on to say: “Value-wise, you don’t see many actually from this era.
“This example that I told you about of the children skipping, sold two years ago, much larger, more involved painting, that went on to make just shy of £30,000.”
The guest was visibly impressed by the hefty price tag as she concluded: “So I can imagine this one, actually, keen collectors will be very intrigued by an example from this period.
“I can imagine this making £10,000.”
Repeating the figure, he double checked: “£10,000?”, with her remarking: “More on the day.”
He shared with a smile to the surrounding audience: “My mum will be happy.”
The expert commented: “So a lovely gift from a kind neighbour”, when he jokingly added: “I’ll need to be nice to her.”
During another conversation, he remarked: “It was lovely to find out more about the picture.”
Continuing in a lighthearted manner, he chuckled and added: “And, of course, it’s lovely to know that it’s got some value that I just have to be kind to my mother now and look after her.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on One and iPlayer.