Antiques Roadshow guest breaks down over unexpected value of 'damaged' painting

07 August 2023 , 20:41

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Antiques Roadshow guest breaks down in tears over unexpected value of 'damaged' painting (Image: Instagram/ROADSHOWPBS)

Viewers were left surprised while watching the latest episode of Antiques Roadshow when a guest broke down in tears after learning the true value of an old painting which had been handed down to her.

The owner of the painting appeared on the PBS version of the show in the United States after deciding to finally get the scruffy painting - which had several holes in it - valued after it had hung on the walls of her home for over 40 years.

The guest explained to the experts that she had felt compelled to finally get the piece valued after watching previous episodes of the show where similar pieces of artwork were valued at staggering prices. The contributor was eager to discover whether ot not her family heirloom could be worth the same.

Antiques Roadshow guest breaks down over unexpected value of 'damaged' painting (Instagram/ROADSHOWPBS)

The guest thought the painting was damaged (Instagram/ROADSHOWPBS)

"I was watching Antiques Roadshow and in the feedback booth, a gentleman stated that he found out his Edouard Cortez was a fake and a light bulb went off. I ran downstairs and sure enough, this painting that had been hanging on our wall for 40 years said Edouard Cortez," she explained. I just found his bio on the internet and he was best known for his Parisian street scenes. He was born in 1882 and died in 1969," she continued.

After thinking that the painting had several flaws in the form of pinholes, the guest was gobsmacked when the antiques expert informed her that it was actually a very famous technique used by the artist to make his work stand out from the rest. "I thought it was a flaw," she yelped on the programme.

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After examining the piece of artwork, the expert said: "He would take a little pin and he would stick it in the canvas and he would do that to establish the vanishing point, to determine the perspective in the painting and the drawing. If you look at the lines, they all converge and come to this point. Now that, of course, is not conclusive but there's a gallery in New York and there's another gentleman who will authenticate this works."

The expert then went on to reveal the valuation of the piece, before the guest broke down in tears after becoming emotional over the news. "I think there's no question that this work is in fact by Edouard Cortez. For an 18 by 22-inch canvas at auction, that should be worth $30,000 to $50,000," the expert announced before the contributor burst into tears.

Susan Knox