The Guzzardi Portrait

“The only way to describe working with Martin Walsh as a film-maker and editor is – seamless! (Pun intended.) Everything just falls into place, with great skill and creativity. Two discerning clients – a jewelry expert and much-praised author on Nelson, and an art expert well-known from the BBC’s ‘Fake or Fortune’ – were delighted with Martin’s work; more follows soon. And… when you work with Martin you get all the facilities you need, a great family atmosphere, and the best cheese toasties on the South Coast!”
Rob White, Maritime Films UK.

 

It is not uncommon for prominent figures to have their imperfections airbrushed out of history.

But Admiral Lord Nelson’s facial scarring and missing eyebrow will now be presented in all their glory, after the discovery and painstaking restoration of a “lost” painting, which included the removal of paint that had covered up to maritime hero’s blemishes.

Part of a series of portraits of the famous admiral painted by Italian artist Leonardo Guzzardi in 1799, the painting was last publicly seen in a newspaper article in 1897.

The painting was rediscovered from an American private collection by art dealer and presenter of BBC programme Fake or Fortune, Philip Mould. On discovering the painting, he found Nelson’s missing eyebrow, and some of the scarring he sustained at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 had been painted over

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