£300,000 painting “discovered” at Arley roadshow

A PAINTING which was “discovered” when the BBC Antiques Roadshow visited Arley Hall is believed to be one of the most important pictures ever seen on the show.
The portrait by Victorian artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was valued at up to £300,000 by  art expert Rupert Maas when the programme was screened last night .
It shows the engraver Leopold Lowenstam and was taken to the show on the filming day in June by his great, great grandson.
Mr Maas described it as one of the most “telling and beautiful” the Roadshow has seen in its 38-year history.
He said: “I think this might be one of the best pictures we have ever seen on the Roadshow in its entire history. There are hardly any portraits of engravers at work at all.”
Alma-Tadema was a  Neo-classical painter and is the most valuable Victorian artist today. He holds the record for a Victorian painting at $36 mi8llion for an enormous picture sold in New York a few years ago.  The work discovered at Arley does not reach that level because it is not a Neo-classical subject and is not huge.
Lowenstam and the artist were close, family friends  and Mrs Lowenstam was governess to Tadema’s children. The portrait was a wedding present in 1883 and it was exhibited at the Royal Academy a year later.