BBC’s Fake or Fortune? Uncovers an “Enormously Important” Portrait by Forgotten Scottish Artist Katherine Read
In July 2026, the long-running BBC series Fake or Fortune? delivered one of its most historically resonant discoveries in recent seasons. A portrait of a young Indian woman, brought to the programme carefully wrapped in a sleeping bag, was confirmed as the work of the eighteenth-century Scottish artist Katherine Read (also spelled Catherine). Experts described the painting as “enormously important” and “extraordinarily significant,” both for its attribution and for what it reveals about artistic exchange between Britain and India in the late 1700s. The work is now estimated to be worth more than £100,000 (approximately $130,000).
The painting belongs to Mary-Louise Wedderburn, a retired accountant who inherited it from her uncle twenty years earlier. Wedderburn had long suspected a connection to Read, a distant relative who specialised in portraits of women and children. She decided to test that intuition by presenting the picture to the Fake or Fortune? team, led by journalist Fiona Bruce and art dealer and historian Philip Mould.
The Painting and Its Sitter
The portrait shows a young Indian woman in a formal pose. She wears multiple strands of pearls, a large emerald pendant, and a distinctive nose ring. Her expression is composed and slightly languid. According to British art historian Charles Greig, who examined the work for the programme, the sitter is “pretty certain” to be a member of the Nawab’s family in Madras (present-day Chennai). This identification is especially rare. Most surviving European portraits of Indian women from the period depict companions or wives within European households. A portrait of a woman from a royal Indian court, painted by a European female artist, is virtually unique in the recorded history of the medium.
Greig stated on the programme: “This has been one of the trickiest paintings I’ve ever had to consider… On the basis of all the evidence put together, I am entirely certain that this painting is by Katherine Read.” He highlighted technical analysis conducted at the Courtauld Institute, which demonstrated strong similarities in pigments, modelling, and brushwork with authenticated works by Read, including a portrait of her niece Helena Beatson.
Who Was Katherine Read?
Katherine Read was born in 1723 near Dundee, Scotland, into a well-to-do family with Jacobite connections. She is believed to have been the first Scottish woman to receive formal artistic training. After the Jacobite rising of 1745 and the subsequent difficulties faced by her family, she studied in Paris (with the celebrated pastellist Maurice Quentin de La Tour) and later in Rome. By the 1750s she had established a successful studio in London.
Read specialised in portraits of women and children, working in both oils and pastels. She commanded high fees—up to 150 guineas for a full-length portrait, matching the rates charged by Joshua Reynolds and exceeding those of Thomas Gainsborough. In 1761 she received a significant commission to paint Queen Charlotte and her children. Contemporary accounts praised her refinement and ability to capture an “agreeable, polite, elegant and dignified” likeness.
Despite her success during her lifetime, Read’s reputation faded rapidly after her death. Like many women artists of the period, her works were frequently reattributed to better-known male painters. Fashion shifted, and pastel—the medium in which she excelled—was often undervalued. She died in 1778 at sea while returning from India, where she had travelled with her niece Helena Beatson in the mid-1770s in search of new patrons among the British community and local rulers in Madras.
The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum holds one of her finest oil portraits, Willielma Campbell, Lady Glenorchy (1762), and has actively worked to restore her place in Scottish art history. Resources such as Art UK and the National Portrait Gallery have also contributed to the gradual recovery of her oeuvre.
The Investigation
The Fake or Fortune? team faced considerable challenges. Few securely attributed works by Read were readily available for comparison. Researchers examined family archives, letters, and wills, consulted historians in Dundee and Chennai, and commissioned scientific analysis. The combination of documentary evidence, stylistic comparison, and technical findings proved decisive.
Philip Mould described the outcome as “a significant baptism in art historical terms,” noting that the pairing of a major rediscovered artist with a highly probable royal Indian sitter places the painting in a particularly active area of the market. The estimated value of £100,000 and above reflects both the quality of the work and its historical rarity.
Broader Significance
The rediscovery carries several layers of importance. First, it restores a concrete example of Read’s late work and expands knowledge of her activity in India. Second, it provides what experts believe is the earliest recorded portrait of an Indian sitter by a European woman artist. Third, it underscores the continuing process of recovering women artists whose careers were obscured by later attributions and changing tastes.
Similar reattributions have occurred in recent years. In 2023, the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, reidentified a pastel long given to Francis Cotes as a work by Read, demonstrating that institutional collections continue to yield new discoveries when examined with fresh eyes and updated scholarship.
Conclusion
What began as a family heirloom wrapped in a sleeping bag has become a landmark addition to the known body of Katherine Read’s work. The Fake or Fortune? investigation combined archival research, scientific analysis, and expert connoisseurship to confirm an attribution that had long been only a family suspicion. In doing so, it has brought renewed attention to a once-celebrated Scottish portraitist and illuminated a rare moment of cross-cultural portraiture in the late eighteenth century.
The painting now stands as both a personal treasure for its owner and a document of broader art-historical significance—one that connects Dundee, London, Madras, and the ongoing effort to recover the full story of women artists in the eighteenth century.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Who painted the newly attributed portrait? A: The painting has been confirmed as the work of Katherine (or Catherine) Read, an eighteenth-century Scottish portraitist (1723–1778).
Q: What does the painting depict? A: It shows a young Indian woman in formal pose, wearing strands of pearls, a large emerald pendant, and a nose ring. Experts believe she was likely a member of the Nawab’s family in Madras (Chennai).
Q: Why is the painting considered “enormously important”? A: It is believed to be the earliest recorded portrait of an Indian sitter by a European female artist. It also significantly expands the known body of work by Katherine Read, a once-successful artist who was largely forgotten after her death.
Q: How was the attribution confirmed? A: Through a combination of stylistic comparison with authenticated works (including a portrait of Read’s niece), technical analysis of pigments and brushwork at the Courtauld Institute, archival research, and expert assessment by art historian Charles Greig and others.
Q: How much is the painting worth? A: It is estimated at more than £100,000 (approximately $130,000).
Q: Who owns the painting? A: Mary-Louise Wedderburn, a retired accountant who inherited it from her uncle around twenty years ago. She is a distant relative of Katherine Read.
Q: What was Katherine Read’s reputation during her lifetime? A: She was a fashionable and highly paid portraitist in London, specialising in women and children. She charged fees comparable to Joshua Reynolds and higher than Thomas Gainsborough. She received a commission to paint Queen Charlotte.
Q: Why was she forgotten? A: Like many women artists of the period, her works were often later reattributed to male painters, and changing tastes diminished the status of pastel, a medium in which she excelled. She died at sea in 1778 while returning from India.
The rediscovery on Fake or Fortune? has given Katherine Read’s achievement a new and well-deserved moment of public recognition.