An Australian couple may have pulled off the gamble of the century – purchasing a ‘fake’ painting lost for 136 years – and it could make them millionaires.
Joe and Rosanna Notali purchased the ‘fake’ Tom Roberts portrait, titled ‘Rejected’, from a British online auction in 2013 for just over $12,000.
It was originally estimated at $30,000 and placed for auction at a Brisbane event, but was withdrawn after too many questions were asked about the origins of the painting.
The Notalis then took the piece on popular BBC show Fake or Fortune, where they were shocked by the possibility of having a potential million dollar investment.
Joe and Rosanna Notali purchased the ‘fake’ Tom Roberts portrait, titled ‘Rejected’, from a British online auction in 2013 for just over $12,000
Joe Notali (pictured) was convinced the portrait was real – and held on to hope they could prove the piece was an original
The painting was originally listed on the online auction with an estimated price between $100 and $130, but after a furious bidding process, the Notalis won the piece, using all the money they had at the time.
They were convinced it was real.
Joe and Rosanna listed the portrait at a Brisbane auction, listing it for $30k, but were met with a flurry of questions by the auctioneer and decided to withdraw the piece, not having enough evidence to suggest it was real.
They took it home but Joe was convinced they had an original.
‘He still believed that it was a Tom Roberts, that someone wouldn’t have copied him at a time when his work wasn’t valued,’ wife Rosanna told the Sydney Morning Herald.
After holding on to the painting for years, a friend convinced them last November to take the ‘fake’ on the Fake or Fortune to be evaluated by experts. The pair had fallen on financial difficulties after a failed deli business.
‘That painting was hope. It represented a chance to get back on our feet. While we had nothing else to lose we did have hope to lose,’ Rosanna said.
‘That painting was hope. It represented a chance to get back on our feet. While we had nothing else to lose we did have hope to lose,’ Rosanna said
‘Shearing the Lambs’, another piece by Tom Roberts, is on display at the National Gallery of Victoria
The television show devoted an episode to the piece, the first time they have featured an Australian artist, and experts say it was an important discovery in the timeline of the artist.
‘It fills a gap in what we know about Tom Roberts,’ Mary Eagle told the BBC in a statement.
‘I think it might be the first of his paintings that shows signs of his greatest traits; the expression of feeling.’
The portrait, dated 1883, could fetch as much as $1 million with authentication.
It is currently on display at the Phillip Beacon Galleries in Queensland.
The Notalis and their three children are now awaiting what could be a life-changing sum.
‘At the very least a deposit on a new home.’