A painting purchased for under $100 at a White Plains, New York thrift store in the 1960s has been identified as a lost masterpiece by Scottish Colorist F.C.B. Cadell, thanks to Google's A.I. assistant Gemini. The portrait, titled "Interior: The Lady in Black" (mid-1920s), was bought by art history major Helene Plotkin, who admired its Fauvist style. Decades later, her son Barry uploaded a photo to Gemini, which detected Cadell's signature and led them to Lyon & Turnbull auction house. The work sold at Lyon & Turnbull in June 2025 for £189,200 ($254,000), within its presale estimate.
This story matters because it marks a significant shift in art authentication, where A.I. tools like Gemini are now assisting—and in some cases accelerating—the work traditionally done by art historians. While the A.I. correctly identified the artist and led to provenance records showing a prior sale at Christie's in 1966, it also misidentified the sitter, highlighting the technology's current limitations. The sale underscores the enduring market for Scottish Colorists and demonstrates how digital tools are becoming a new front in the rediscovery of lost artworks, potentially democratizing the process for everyday owners.