Lost Portrait by Pioneering Scottish Artist Worth $130K

A retired accountant who inherited a gold-framed portrait from her uncle never imagined it would become an art world sensation worth $130,000.

Mary-Louise Wedderburn brought the painting to BBC's "Fake or Fortune" wrapped in a sleeping bag, hoping experts could confirm her hunch. She suspected the portrait of a young Indian woman wearing pearls and an emerald pendant might be by Katherine Read, possibly a distant relative.

Art detectives proved her right. The painting is indeed by Read, a trailblazing Scottish artist born in 1723 who defied the restrictions of her era to become one of Europe's most sought-after portrait painters.

Read's story is remarkable for her time. As one of 13 children from Dundee, she couldn't study life drawing because women weren't allowed to paint nude subjects. So she traveled to Paris in 1745 to study crayon painting, then to Rome where she painted Italian aristocrats and British travelers on the Grand Tour.

"You'll see I'll top it with the best of them," Read wrote confidently to her brother. She backed up that promise by creating more than 300 portraits over her career, mostly of women and children.

In 1753, Read opened a studio in London and quickly became the city's most fashionable portrait painter in crayon, a reputation she maintained for two decades. She even earned a commission to paint Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III.

The newly authenticated portrait shows Read's skill continued during her final years in India. Experts believe the subject was likely an elite Mughal woman from present-day Chennai, possibly the wife of an Indian prince.

Why This Inspires

This discovery matters beyond its six-figure price tag. Art historian Charles Greig noted that most 18th-century portraits of Indian women show companions or wives of Europeans, but this painting depicts someone from the royal court itself.

"That makes it enormously important," Greig explained. The portrait gives voice and visibility to an Indian woman whose name has been lost to history but whose dignity Read captured with respect and artistry.

Art dealer Philip Mould believes more discoveries await. "I'm sure we're going to see more works by this pioneering woman artist in India coming out of the woodwork," he told BBC News.

For Wedderburn, the authentication means everything. "The more that we find out about Katherine Read, the more I think she was just a wonderful woman," she said.

The painting now stands as a testament to two women separated by centuries: an artist who refused to let gender limit her ambition, and a subject whose story can finally be told.