Freud or Fraud?

Art detectives Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould head to Somerset, where 15 unsigned prints of Lucian Freud’s etching Girl with Fig Leaf have been discovered in a garage. Will they prove to be authentic works by a colossus of British 20th-century portraiture – or not so much Freud as fraud?

If these prints are genuinely by Freud, then Somerset-based brothers Mike and Anthony Newman could be the lucky recipients of a small fortune. A titan of the 20th century, Lucian Freud is one of the biggest names in the art world, and his paintings sell for millions. His life, though, was notoriously complex and chaotic – making the quest to find out the truth about the pictures extremely challenging.

The original 1947 edition of Girl with Fig Leaf was Freud’s portrait of his then-wife Kitty Garman, an artist in her own right. It’s a beguiling image and a popular Freud work, but apart from ten authorised etchings, no more are known of.

Initial clues arrive in the form of the Newman brothers’ family connection to the relatively obscure north London printing firm of Mauroo, which specialised in fine-art prints. The firm was located in Islington – just around the corner from where Freud painted.

Fiona goes on the hunt for the original copper plate used to make the authorised prints of Girl with Fig Leaf with Alice Clanachan at the V&A, and hears from Alexander Boyt, one of Freud’s 14 children, who shares stories from Freud’s Islington days, including some intriguing underworld connections.

Meanwhile, Philip seeks guidance from Freud’s former helper Paul Dewis, who demonstrates the etching process Freud used. Could Mike and Anthony’s prints hold the key to the mystery? Paper conservator Nicholas Burnett, who can date them, and Dr Xavier Aure, an imaging specialist who can recover any hidden markings, believe so.

But will it be enough to prove that a previously unknown set of etchings by Lucian Freud has been discovered?