Â鶹ÊÓƵAV

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a picturesque outdoor scene of women in a field sold at auction in England in the style of Helen Galloway McNicoll, one of Canada’s most important impressionist painters. The picture was bought at auction by artist and small-time art dealer David Taylor for £2,000, but it could be worth more than £300,000.

Helen McNicoll is one of Canada’s most celebrated female artists of the early 20th century. A deaf woman, McNicoll’s privileged background allowed her to travel unheeded at a time when women were fighting for the right to vote. She left Canada to study at the Slade School of Fine Art and based herself in London for the rest of her life, travelling with British artist Dorothea Sharp and painting in France and Europe, where she adopted the impressionist style she became known for. Tragically, in 1915, she died from complications with diabetes. Despite receiving critical acclaim during her lifetime, McNicoll has until now remained relatively unknown except in Canada, where her work regularly sells for record-breaking six-figure sums.

The picture was catalogued ‘unsigned’, but David's interest was piqued when he noticed what appeared to be a signature hidden beneath the frame. The picture was framed with a misdated plaque with a title – Women of the Fields and listed with provenance from the Pine-Coffin family of Canada. Despite these leads, with no catalogue raisonné and only a handful of experts who can help, the team have their work cut out to uncover the truth.

Philip travels to Canada to compare David's painting with known McNicoll works and uncovers the significance of the artist's impressionist style. He meets McNicoll scholar, Julie Nash, at the Grand Chateau Frontenac hotel in Quebec City, who trawls McNicoll’s exhibition history but finds no reference to a painting titled Women of the Fields. Fiona, meanwhile, delves into McNicoll’s career, discovering she had a penchant for travel and adventure. With the provenance leading us nowhere, Fiona looks for clues in McNicoll’s career and the subject of the painting. Her investigation takes us to the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Wisley, where we discover what the women are doing in the picture.

Scientific analysis of a genuine McNicoll work in Canada reveals matching canvas weaves and distinctive use of red lake pigment to David’s picture, strengthening the case. The investigation leads to a missing McNicoll painting titled ‘The Bean Harvest’, exhibited extensively in Canada and England at the Royal Academy just a few months before McNicoll’s untimely death.

As if the stakes weren’t high enough already, it comes to a critical point when McNicoll’s biggest collector, billionaire Canadian businessman Pierre Lassonde, flies over to see the painting. With a life-changing sum of money at stake, will the team be able to find enough evidence to prove David’s saleroom gamble paid off?