Fake or Fortune? S14E05 - What Happened Next? Toulouse-Lautrec
Summary:
Art detectives Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould revisit a story from Series 7, investigating two charming sketchbooks believed to be by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Did owner Alain Brun manage to overturn the art world's original verdict and finally have them authenticated?
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is one of France's most celebrated artists, best known for his vivid depictions of late 19th-century Parisian nightlife. This story centres on an extraordinary discovery: two small sketchbooks found in a garden shed in Saint-Émilion and given to a teenage Alain by his grandmother in 1965.
The books appear to date from Lautrec's early years, long before he became renowned for his iconic posters and paintings. Filled with previously unknown sketches, studies and watercolours of horses, dogs and colourful characters, they offer a rare glimpse into the formative period of a talented young aristocrat still developing his artistic voice.
Unfortunately, when Alain presented the sketchbooks 50 years later to the French committee responsible for authenticating Toulouse-Lautrec's work, it concluded they had been created by another artist, his tutor René Princeteau. As a result, their value was judged to be only a few thousand pounds rather than many hundreds of thousands.
Fiona and Philip met Alain in the beautiful southern French town of Albi, where Toulouse-Lautrec was born, visiting the grand family home, Château du Bosc, where he spent much of his childhood. There, they searched for clues that might connect his life at the estate with the images contained in the sketchbooks, in the hope of assembling a strong enough case to convince the committee to take another look at the artworks and reconsider their original verdict?
Now, eight years later, Fiona and Philip revisit this story to find out what happened next. Has Alain received the news he's longed for – and could his sketchbooks finally be worth a fortune?
