An Antiques Roadshow guest joked that he was going to “be nice” to his mum after discovering just how much her painting was worth. Visiting Pollok Park, Glasgow, BBC expert Charlotte Riordan was on hand to meet with a man who presented a piece of art from 19th Century painter Edward Atkinson Hornel. “So thank you for joining us today Alastair and for bringing, while we’re in Glasgow, a painting by one of the Glasgow Boys,” she began.

“And not only a Glasgow Boy but one of my favourite Glasgow Boys.”. “Really? You like Hornel?” he queried as she confirmed: “I do, I really like the work of Hornel. Now tell me a little bit about how this came to be in your possession.”. Explaining his link to the artwork, the guest shared: “It’s an old family friend of my parents, a woman called Mrs Smith. “We lived in a tenement building so she had this hanging in the wall of a tenement building in Glasgow.

“And my parents took care of her for about 40 years and when she died, she left that to them.”. Labelling it as a “really special gift”, Riordan elaborated that the Glasgow Boys was a group of around 20 artists at the turn of the century in Glasgow who were rebelling against “staid Victorian traditions”. “They were looking at Europe, Hornel studied in Antwerp,” she continued. “They were going and studying in places like France and Belgium. Basically, they were modernists. They were the Scottish modernists of the day.”.

The expert said that “arguably the best decade” for Hornel was the 1890s, when this particular painting was made, as it was following an 18-month funded trip to Japan with fellow artist George Henry. “And very much like the other post-Impressionists, so like Van Gogh, people like that, they were looking at Japanese prints for inspiration. “And that’s why you get this lovely little upright format. You get this kind of close cropping, this foreshortening.

“It’s very, very much inspired by Japanese printmaking and it’s very decorative. “And also, you get this lovely sort of jewel-like palette which is very classic Glasgow Boys. “And really, from a serious collector’s point of view, this is the era that you want.”. She continued: “Value-wise, you don’t see many actually from this era. “This example that I told you about of the children skipping, sold two years ago, much larger, more involved painting, that went on to make just shy of £30,000.”.

The extortionate figure caused the guest to make a subtle but impressed noise as she went on to conclude: “So I can imagine this one, actually, keen collectors will be very intrigued by an example from this period. “I can imagine this making £10,000.”. Repeating the figure, he double checked: “£10,000?”, with her remarking: “More on the day.”. He looked to the surrounding audience and shared with a smile: “My mum will be happy.”.

The expert commented: “So a lovely gift from a kind neighbour”, when he jokingly added: “I’ll need to be nice to her.”. In a separate interview, he said: “It was lovely to find out more about the picture.”. It was then that he pursued with his jokey line of thought, laughing: “And, of course, it’s lovely to know that it’s got some value that I just have to be kind to my mother now and look after her.”.