Britt Jones
Antiques Roadshow viewers were shocked to find that modern art expert, Frances Christie, rejected an item to valuate after finding out its history.
In Sunday’s episode (October 6), the show was handed an unusual item with an ‘incredible’ backstory.
Frances and the host, Fiona Bruce, joined the Ulster Folk Museum outside of Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she took a look at a beautiful watercolour painting of a priest.
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Frances noted its ‘striking’ appearance and shared: "I love how the artist has captured the glint on his glasses.”
The expert then went on to inquire about the sitter, who was painted.
The painting’s owner went on to tell an incredible story which led to Frances refusing to valuate it.
The owner shared: "The sitter is my uncle, Father Dan Cummings, and he was a Redemptorist priest.
"When World War II broke out, Ireland was neutral, but then, they got a request for chaplains. So, Dan volunteered and joined the British Army. He was part of the liberation forces at Belsen."
Frances immediately understood where this was going, due to the world-known WWII information surrounding German occupation and concentration camps.
They said: "Of course, as we now know, Belsen was one of the very large concentration camps in the north of Germany, and it was one of the first to be liberated by British troops.”
The owner explained the shocking history behind the painting, sharing that it was actually painted by an inmate.
They said: "Once the liberation happened, he stayed on in the hospital for one year and during that period, this was painted by one of the inmates, presumably as part of his recuperation and rehabilitation.”
After inspecting the artwork, Frances picked up on the artist’s signature: "Well, it's signed at the top 'Baumeister, Hans', and dated 1946, so the year after liberation.
"As you say, it must've been part of the period directly afterwards when, you know, we all know the story now, it was such a shocking discovery when they liberated Belsen.”
It was on 15 April, three days after the truce, that the first British troops entered the Belsen camp from the 63 Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, who were under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Taylor.
She continued: "What I think is incredible about this portrait though is that it brings alive - and you're sharing with us - the experiences of clearly someone, from here, who devoted his services and clearly made a real difference.
"I mean the fact that this was signed, 'Hans Baumeister', who is an artist that I've never come across before but looking at the portrait, it's really beautifully painted."
She called it a ‘symbol of two very different people coming together’ and pondered on ‘the fact that Hans painted this of your uncle shows that he was clearly quite an important part of his life’.
That’s when she refused to valuate it.
She said to the owner: "In terms of value, I mean, this is the Antiques Roadshow, so we usually do put a value on things.
"But I'm not going to put a monetary value on it today because it is so much more important than that because of its connection with Belsen, because of your uncle being someone from Belfast who was there at the moment of liberation. It has so much more of an important social and historical context."