Attributed to Franciabigio, ca. 1500

Appraised on: June 18, 2005

Appraised in: Providence, Rhode Island

Appraised by: Alan Fausel

Category: Paintings & Drawings

Episode Info: Providence, Hour 1 (#1013)

Originally Aired: May 8, 2006

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (2:47)

GUEST: I have been told that it was attributed to an artist whose last name was "Biggi," B-i-g-g-i, and he was a minor late-Renaissance painter.

APPRAISER: Okay. And how did you get this?

GUEST: I had always admired it in my aunt's home, and she was downsizing her home and had contacted a museum in Florida. And I guess they weren't as friendly as she would have hoped over the phone and decided to give it to me.

APPRAISER: And you've had it restored at one point?

GUEST: Uh, she did.

APPRAISER: She did.

GUEST: This is the way I received it.

APPRAISER: Okay. Well, we don't have many old master paintings on the ROADSHOW, because we don't see too many. And secondly, we don't often put them on because we don't often know exactly who they're by. But I think we can find out who this one is. This is actually a Florentine painting of the High Renaissance. This painting was probably done around 1500.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: The artist named Biggi...There's a "Fortunato Biggi," who actually is a later 17th-century painter, he does flowers.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: That's not him.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It's actually an Italian Renaissance painter by the name of "Franciabigio." 1484 to 1525 is when he lived.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: This one is a Florentine Madonna. He was clearly influenced by Raphael. You have this figure here, this sort of a "figura serpentinata," the Christ child, and then you have the mother up here. It's of the period, and we can tell by the very distinctive craquelure here. There's a very squared off kind of craquelure, which is very much of the period, it's not a copy. We also see that it's on an old panel. We have this line down here, which is not a split, it's where the panel was joined to make this large piece of wood. When it got restored, unfortunately, somebody wrapped it up in bubble wrap. There's little dots here where the varnish was still wet. At some point, you may want to redo that varnish. But here you have a great painting. Do you have any idea of what it's worth?

GUEST: No, I really don't. Um, there was, you know, a figure on the paper when I received it, but you know, I just thought that was maybe just for insurance purposes. And that figure was $15,000-- but honestly, I don't know.

APPRAISER: Well, in the old master world, we don't always know, as I said, because they aren't signed. And so we have to check provenance and history and also stylistic components. But if this painting were attributed to Franciabigio-- meaning we aren't quite sure-- it's worth $15,000. But if we could prove that it's real by showing it to the proper scholar in Italy, and if this is really Franciabigio, which I believe it is, it's worth $60,000 to $80,000.

GUEST: Oh, my God. Oh, she'll ask me to send it back. (both laugh) I... Well, I'll keep it forever. I mean, I love the painting.

APPRAISER: No, it's a great work, and as I said, it's one of the best old master paintings I've seen come into the ROADSHOW.

GUEST: It really is?

APPRAISER: Yeah.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: Well, thanks for bringing it in.

GUEST: Thank you. Wow.