' (''Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil'') is an oil painting by an unknown artist. The painting is a landscape depicting the

River Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres p ...

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Argenteuil is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, ...

in France. It is owned by Englishman David Joel. In 2011 ''Bords de la Seine à Argenteuil'' was featured on the British TV programme ''

Fake or Fortune? ''Fake or Fortune?'' is a BBC One documentary television series which examines the provenance and attribution of notable artworks. Since the first series aired in 2011, ''Fake or Fortune?'' has drawn audiences of up to 5 million viewers in t ...

'', in a failed attempt to establish it as an authentic painting by

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

''Fake or Fortune?'' investigation

History

The title ' along with the date, 1875, appears on the frame, and there is a painted signature purportedly of Claude Monet. The painting was sold by Georges Petit in 1918 to the Khalil Palace in Cairo, where it stayed until 1953. The painting was acquired by art historian David Joel in 1992 for £40,000. The painting had previously been offered for sale at auction, but failed to reach its £500,000 reserve. The painting was included by the

Artizon Museum Artizon Museum , until 2018 , is an art museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum was founded in 1952 by the founder of Bridgestone Tire Co., Shojiro Ishibashi, Ishibashi Shojiro (his family name means stone bridge). The museum's collections include I ...

(then the Bridgestone Museum of Art) in "Monet: a Retrospective" in 1994. For a number of years after he purchased it, Joel attempted to establish it as an authentic Monet.

Investigation

Journalist

Fiona Bruce Fiona Elizabeth Bruce (born 25 April 1964) is a British journalist, newsreader and television presenter. She joined the BBC as a researcher for their current affairs programme ''Panorama'' in 1989, and became the first female newsreader on ' ...

and art dealer and historian

Philip Mould Philip Jonathan Clifford Mould (born March 1960) is an English art dealer, London gallery owner, art historian, writer and broadcaster. He has made a number of major art discoveries, including works of Thomas Gainsborough, Anthony van Dyck, Antho ...

investigated the painting in the first episode of the first series of the TV programme ''

'', first aired on 19 June 2011. The widely accepted authority on Monet's work is the catalogue raisonné published by the Wildenstein Institute in Paris. One challenge Bruce and Mould faced was that the Wildenstein Institute had already examined the painting once, after the death of

Daniel Wildenstein Daniel Leopold Wildenstein (11 September 1917 – 23 October 2001) was a French art dealer, historian and owner-breeder of thoroughbred and standardbred race horses. He was the third member of the family to preside over Wildenstein & Co., one of ...

, not accepting it as genuine. The programme had the picture scanned, the paints analysed, and the brushwork and signature examined by experts. The programme argued that the painting was genuine, an opinion shared by a number of experts. However the Wildenstein Institute did not accept their arguments, and maintains that the painting is a fake, based predominantly on the connoisseurship of the late

. The Institute has since been provided with further evidence suggesting the painting is genuine, but the Wildenstein Institute has not changed its verdict and the painting remains excluded from its catalogue raisonné. Prominent art experts Joachim Pissarro, Charles Stuckey and Richard Brettell reject the painting’s authenticity. Joel went to court in 2014 to force the Wildenstein Institute to include the work. He lost the case, appealed, and received a final verdict the courts would not intervene in December 2015.

Similar works

Monet did paint a number of scenes in the Argenteuil area. An acknowledged work with the same title was painted by Monet in 1872. This work was sold at a

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

auction in New York for $4.8 million in 2005. Businessman

Ralph Wilson Ralph Cookerly Wilson Jr. (October 17, 1918 – March 25, 2014) was an American businessman and sports executive. He was best known as the founder and owner of the Buffalo Bills, a team in the National Football League (NFL). He was one of the f ...

acquired a Monet painting with the title ''La Seine a Argenteuil'' in 1997 from the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

. Wilson held the painting until his death in 2014, at which point it was put up for auction with an estimated value of between $12 million and $17 million.Wawrow, John (5 June 2014)
Bills owner's estate auctioning off art collection
''Associated Press''. Retrieved 5 June 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bords de la Seine a Argenteuil Argenteuil Forgery controversies Fake or Fortune? River Seine in art

''Fake or Fortune?'' investigation

History

Investigation

Similar works

See also

References