Van Dyck portrait discovered on Antiques Roadshow fails to sell at auction

Head Study of a Man in a Ruff failed to sell at the Christie's London auction. Credit: John Stillwell/PA Wire

A painting revealed to be a genuine Sir Anthony van Dyck portrait during an episode of the Antiques Roadshow has failed to sell at auction.

The painting was taken along to a roadshow in Newstead Abbey, near Nottingham, last year by priest Father Jamie MacLeod planned to sell it to buy new church bells

Head Study of a Man in a Ruff, which cost its owner just £400, had been given an estimate of £300,000 to £500,000 for last night's sale at Christie's in London.

Father Jamie MacLeod with the van Dyck, portrait bought for £400, with Antiques Roadshow host Fiona Bruce. Credit: Olwen Gillespie/BBC/PA Wire

But the auction house confirmed it had failed to sell in the Old Master and British Paintings auction.

Father Jamie MacLeod bought the artwork from an antiques shop in Cheshire 12 years years ago and was identified after the show's host, Fiona Bruce, saw it and thought it might be genuine.

Ms Bruce, who was making a show about the artist with expert Philip Mould, asked him to look at it, and after a lengthy restoration process the painting was verified by Dr Christopher Brown - one of the world's authorities on van Dyck.

It was shown in an episode of Antiques Roadshow broadcast in December.