''Britain's Lost Masterpieces'' is a factual

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

documentary television series that aims to uncover overlooked art treasures in British public collections, in conjunction with

Art UK Art UK is a cultural, education charity in the United Kingdom, previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation. Since 2003, it has digitised more than 300,000 paintings, sculptures and other artworks by more than 53,700 artists. It was found ...

. It is presented by

Bendor Grosvenor Bendor Gerard Robert Grosvenor (born 27 November 1977) is a British art historian, writer and former art dealer. He is known for discovering a number of important lost artworks by Old Master artists, including Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Claude Lorr ...

, along with art historian Jacky Klein (series 1) and Emma Dabiri (series 2 to 5). The series also features the

art restoration conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property (tangible cultural heritage), including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include preve ...

work of Simon Gillespie. In North American syndication, the series is called ''The Art Detectives''.

Development

Each episode begins with Grosvenor locating a prospective masterpiece in the digitized collection of Art UK. The restoration work of Gillespie's shop is key to a successful attribution. There was a minor dispute regarding similarities between ''Britain's Lost Masterpieces'' and the previous show Grosvenor was on, ''

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 ...

'' The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

delayed production of Series 5, planned for Spring 2020. Production resumed in October 2020, only for Grosvenor to catch COVID-19.

Episodes

Series 1

Series one, comprising three episodes, was aired in September and October 2016.

Series 2

Series two was aired in September and October 2017. File:Portrait of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (by Peter Paul Rubens).jpg, Portrait of George Villiers
(attributed to

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

) File:View of Nomentano Bridge by Joseph Wright of Derby.png,

Ponte Nomentano The Ponte Nomentano (called Pons Lamentanus during the Middle Ages) is a Roman bridge in Rome, Italy, which carried the Via Nomentana over the Aniene (). Having lain outside the city limits for most of its history, the picturesque bridge is note ...

(attributed to

Wright Wright is an occupational surname originating in England and Scotland. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a ...

) File:Richard Vaughan 2nd Earl of Carbery.jpg, The 2nd Earl of Carbery (attributed to Lely) File:Frances Vaughan, Countess of Carbery (d.1650) by Mary Beale in 1670.jpg, The Countess of Carbery (attributed to Beale)

Series 3

Series three was aired in August 2018.

Series 4

Series four was aired in October and November 2019. File:George Oakley Aldrich.jpg, George Oakley Aldrich
(attributed to Batoni)

Series 5

The first two episodes of series five were aired in February 2021, followed by a third in February 2022.

References

External links

* {{BBC programme
Feature on the premiere
BBC television documentaries Documentary television series about art 2016 British television series debuts British English-language television shows