An Antiques Roadshow guest was left speechless after learning the value of a painting by a renowned Northern Irish artist
An Antiques Roadshow expert revealed the huge worth of a painting by a Northern Irish “pioneer”.
A recent edition of the popular BBC show was filmed at Shuttleworth House in Bedfordshire, where residents brought their treasures and artwork for evaluation by specialists.
During the programme, art expert Frances Christie was shown a piece by trailblazing artist Gladys Maccabe.
“This is such a vibrant scene of loads of people gathered on a beach with lots of children riding on horses. It’s unmistakably the style of someone called Gladys Maccabe, who was probably Northern Ireland’s most famous 20th-century artist,” Frances began.
The visitor then revealed that the artwork had belonged to an elderly couple who were friends of her parents, reports the Liverpool Echo.
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“When they passed away, we were invited to choose an item that we’d like to keep and that just appealed to me,” she added.
Frances continued: “Colour and life, that is what Gladys Maccabe was all about. She was quite a pioneering artist for her time. She nearly lived to the age of 100, she was born at the end of the First World War, so 1918.”
The specialist revealed that the artist studied at an art college in Belfast shortly before the Second World War, where she “came of age.”
She added: “She was a pretty amazing person, she really recognised in Northern Ireland that there was a wealth of female talent and so she founded something called the Ulster Society of Women Artists, and she was its first president. So, she was a real promoter of her fellow artists.”
Discussing the painting’s particular characteristics, Frances continued: “It’s very typical for her style. It’s oil on board. She was really confident with her colour and her line.
“She’s used a black pigment to highlight the shapes of the horses and the people, and then she’s used lots of different bright strokes to bring out the colours of both the sea in the background and the shore in the foreground.
“And then it’s almost like a panoramic pattern of clothes in the midground, and I think it really draws you in.”
Frances subsequently disclosed that the artwork could achieve between £1,200 to £1,800 at auction, leaving the guest utterly stunned.
“Well chosen!” the expert declared, with the guest responding: “Okay, good! Yes, it is, yeah. Thank you very much.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to stream on BBC iPlayer
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