Retired accountant Mary-Louise Wedderburn appeared on BBC One's Fake or Fortune? with a painting she inherited from her uncle two decades ago. The work, which had been stored wrapped in a sleeping bag, depicts an Indian woman in a formal pose wearing a string of pearls, a large emerald pendant and a nose ring.
Valuation Revealed
Experts on the show confirmed the painting as an authentic work by 18th-century Scottish artist Katherine Read, making it the earliest known painting of an Indian sitter by a European female artist. Mary-Louise learned the piece is worth more than £100,000.
British art historian Charles Greig stated: "This has been one of the trickiest paintings I've ever had to consider." He added that he was "entirely certain that this painting is by Katherine Read" and called it "extraordinarily important."
Family Connection
Mary-Louise had long suspected the painting might be by Read, a distant relative. She said: "It's wonderful, it's unbelievable. It's just so important to me that it's by Katherine Read, because of the family connection, but also because of who she was."
Art dealer Philip Mould remarked: "We have just witnessed a significant baptism in art historical terms" and noted that the work could fetch "£100,000 upwards" in the current art market.
