Rupert Nicholas Maas (born 23 July 1960) is an English painting specialist and gallery owner best known for his appearances on the long-running

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

series ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people (g ...

'' where he has been a member of the team of experts since 1997.

Biography

Born and raised in London, Rupert is the middle of three children and the oldest son of the art dealer

Jeremy Maas Jeremy Stephen Maas (31 August 1928 – 23 January 1997) was an English art dealer and art historian, best known for his expertise in Victorian painting. Early and private life Maas was born in Penang, then in British Malaya. His father, Oscar Hen ...

(1928–1997) and artist and equestrian Antonia Armstrong Willis (1932–2017). Rupert has an older sister Athena (born 1957) and a younger brother Jonathan (born 1962). Rupert's father started the Maas Gallery in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, dealing in

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

paintings, writing a book in 1969, ''Victorian Painters''. Rupert Maas was educated at

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors , ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

from 1974 to 1978 and took a BA in Art History at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

from 1980 to 1983. In the summer of 1983, he sailed the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and later that year joined the Maas Gallery which deals in Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite, Romantic and Modern British paintings, watercolours, drawings, reproductive engravings and sculpture. The gallery has also featured the work of a number of contemporary living artists, including Keiron Leach and

Julia Sorrell Julia Sorrell (born 4 August 1955, in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex) is a British artist known for her portraits and imaginative drawings and paintings using figures and natural forms such as wood, shells, rock and plants using a range of media from pe ...

. Maas served on the executive committee of the

Society of London Art Dealers The Society of London Art Dealers is an organization founded in 1932 for the promotion of dealers of fine art and antiquities in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the ...

in 1998–99. He co-owns and runs The Watercolours and Drawings Fair. He has regularly written articles for the art, press and lectures on art. He is widely recognised as the leading expert on the works of the Royal Academician

Augustus Leopold Egg Augustus Leopold Egg Royal Academy, RA (2 May 1816, in London – 26 March 1863, in Algiers) was a British Victorian artist, and member of The Clique (art group), The Clique best known for his modern triptych ''Past and Present (paintings), Past ...

(1816–1863). He also promotes

Ballantine's Ballantine's is a range of Blended Scotch whiskies produced by Pernod Ricard in Dumbarton, Scotland. The Ballantine's flavour is dependent on fingerprint malts from Miltonduff and Glenburgie, blended with 50 single malts and four single gra ...

whisky in the Far East. Maas is frequently called upon to provide independent valuations for museums, both domestic and international, and has previously valued individual pictures and entire collections (for example the

John Wharlton Bunney John Wharlton Bunney (20 June 1828 – 23 September 1882) was an English topographical and landscape artist of the nineteenth century. His father was a merchant captain whom Bunney, as a boy, accompanied on several voyages around the world. ...

1828-1882 archive) for Acceptance in Lieu. In 2006 Maas was duped into paying £20,000 for a faked art work claimed to be by fairyland painter

John Anster Fitzgerald John Anster Christian Fitzgerald (1819 – 1906) was a Victorian era fairy painter and portrait artist. He was nicknamed "Fairy Fitzgerald" for his main genre. Many of his fairy paintings are dark and contain images of ghouls, demons, and ...

(1823–1906). In 1993, Maas became full-time director of the Maas Gallery. In 1997, shortly after his father's death, he joined

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's ''

'' as a picture specialist. He has appeared regularly on the series and on other television programmes such as ''Castle in the Country''. In 2008, he caused a minor local controversy when, during an episode of ''Antiques Roadshow'', he implied that women from

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

had fat ankles. Known for his ability to reel off spontaneous art-related witticisms, one of his best known and oft-quoted quips pertains to vetting an artwork's authenticity by bearing in mind that "Everything but the naked picture is capable of lying." In December 2015 Maas appeared on the team representing

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

's ''

Christmas University Challenge ''Christmas University Challenge'' is a British quiz programme which has aired on BBC Two since 2011. It is a spin-off from University Challenge that airs daily over the Christmas period, and features teams of noteworthy alumni from British u ...

''.

Personal life

Maas is tall. He lives in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

in south

with his wife Tamar Seaborn. The couple have been married since 1991 and have three daughters.

References

External links

Maas Gallery - Mayfair London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maas, Rupert Antiques experts 1960 births Living people Art dealers from London