Tom Roberts, Rejected: Painting bought for $15,000 could be worth $1m

A GLAMOUR couple who lost their home and business are back on top after it emerged a painting they bought for $15,000 is by one of Australia’s greatest artists and worth up to $1 million.

Joe and Rosanna Natoli, from the Sunshine Coast, purchased the painting Rejected online in 2013 from an English auction house, which had listed it for just $100-160, claiming it was a Tom Roberts fake.

Former Maroochydore mayor Joe, 58, was one of several eagle-eyed art lovers who spotted the potential goldmine, and took a chance by entering and winning a furious bidding war.

But when the couple brought it back to Australia, they were told by an expert it was just a good fake, and the disappointed pair stashed it away in a cupboard.

It was then that the family of five fell on hard times, as Joe’s upmarket grocery store Two Bros floundered and they were plunged into debt. They were forced to sell their home, lost the business in February 2016 and have been living with relatives ever since.

After an election loss, the ex-mayor sank into depression, and a concerned friend decided to contact the BBC’s Fake or Fortune program to investigate the artwork.

The team flew to Australia and carried out forensic tests that proved the painting was created in the late 19th century, when Roberts became the first Australian to study at the Royal Academy of Arts in the UK.

Infrared technology found an inscription and Roberts’s address at the time on the back of the painting, and his great-granddaughter confirmed that the wide brushstrokes were typical of his style, and the tall figure pictured looked just like him.

The Natolis had found Roberts’s first self-portrait, and the BBC show revealed it could be worth more than $350,000.

Art dealer Philip Bacon is currently displaying the painting with a reserve of $500,000 and the couple have discovered that a smaller, similar work by the artist sold for $700,000, raising hopes it could be worth up to $1 million.

“We still can’t believe it,” Rosanna, who works for 7 News Sunshine Coast, told Sunrise this morning, revealing that the family hopes to put the proceeds into buying a new home. “We’re trying to pinch ourselves that this could be actually true.’’

Her husband added: “Nobody really knew much about this painting. It was unloved. It was scuffed up.

“The owner had no idea who the artist was.

“It’s an amazing feeling to think we have finally found a gem.”

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