Impressed: Fiona Bruce (Picture: BBC)
21 May 2014
It only cost the nation £10 million to find a painting good enough for Fiona Bruce to eat her sandwiches in front of. That’ll be the Van Dyck selfie.
The Londoner found Bruce at the National Portrait Gallery annual reception. Her intimate acquaintance with the Van Dyck stems from her presenting Fake or Fortune with art dealer Philip Mould, who was in the process of selling the Van Dyck to James Stunt, for the LA home he shares with his wife Petra Ecclestone, only for an export stop to be put on it and funds raised to keep it in the UK.
“So there I was each lunchtime with my Pret sandwich sitting under this extraordinary portrait, which I am now so pleased was bought in the end by this gallery.”
