Artnet Reports on Discovery of Potential Helen McNicoll Masterpiece

An English artist and part-time art dealer purchased an oil painting at a regional UK auction for £2,090. Experts later confirmed the work was a long-lost Impressionist masterpiece, originally listed only as being 'in the style of' Canadian Helen McNicoll. The painting was eventually sold at auction for £174,000 to Canadian collector Pierre Lassonde. The discovery began when the buyer found a hidden signature matching McNicoll's handwriting after removing the painting from a cheap plastic frame.

The painting, which was originally listed with a plaque stating the artist was McNicol and the date was 1958, was valued by specialists at £300,000. The buyer contacted the team behind the BBC television programme *Fake or Fortune?*, led by Fiona Bruce, to investigate the painting's history.