Fake or Genuine? Expert Tests Raeburn Painting | Country House Rescue

Crawfordland, a castle dating back over eight centuries, is hidden away in 600 acres of Ayrshire in southwest Scotland. It's been home to the Crawford family since 1245, but constant maintenance of the fragile property has become a huge financial drain. The 27th Laird, Peter Crawford, spent over £300,000 on its upkeep, until age and ill health forced him to move out two years ago, and rent out the whole property. Now, in a bid to reclaim the family home, his son Simon Crawford and his wife Aditi have moved in. 30 years ago, to try and generate some much-needed income, Simon's parents divided the castle to create a separate rental property. Known as the Tower House, it has its own kitchen, five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a grand Georgian drawing room. The Crawfords plan to rent it out for self-catering holiday lads. Self-catering guests will have the use of the Tower House's dining room, which is where Simon makes another important discovery. There are just oodles of these family portraits around this house, but they all seem to be all over the place. It's a bit of a hodgepodge. This one up here on the right-hand side, it says it's painted by Rayburn. You know, he's a preeminent artist. But here it is, stuck in the corner of this room. It's pretty dirty. The frame is completely knackered. And really, he's looking after, and it really needs to be seen by people. I've taken the Rayburn off the wall, so we can have a good look at it on an easel upstairs. Oh, brilliant. He's invited James Holloway, director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, to verify its authenticity. James, tell us a little bit about Rayburn. Well, he was the sort of preeminent portrait painter in Scotland in the sort of 1790s, right up to his death in 1823. He painted really the great and the good of Scotland in the early years of the 19th century. He's a fabulous painter. And is this a Rayburn? Can I look at it with a torch? Of course, yeah. What are you looking for when you're doing that, James? Looking at the quality of the painting of the eyes to see how good it is. There were one or two Rayburn imitators who were not nearly as good, and things like the eyes sort of just give you a little idea. Rayburn was really deft with his use of paint, and just little flicks just animate everything. And is it a Rayburn? Yeah, absolutely. No, no, it's very nicely observed. It's so nice to come into a house like this, which has such fantastic rich history. You just look around the walls and the family's here. It doesn't mean that they're all by the greatest artists of their time. I'm rather fond of her because I love that sort of matron's cap, about sort of 1705, 1710. We're looking at Scotland about the time of the union with England, when Queen Anne was on the throne. Great frame, you know, it's all original. I mean, that's something that really sort of thrills me, see something like that in a house like this. It makes sense here.