The Private Life of a Masterpiece

The Private Life of a Masterpiece was a BBC arts documentary series which told the stories behind great works of art; 29 episodes of the series were broadcast on BBC Two, commencing on 8 December 2001 and ending on 25 December 2010. It initially ran for five seasons from 8 December 2001 to 17 April 2006, for a total of 22 episodes; each episode was 50 minutes long. A seven-DVD box set of the first five series was released in 2007, which re-arranged the documentaries into genres from art history. A further seven episodes were broadcast between 24 December 2006 and 25 December 2010. The series has been widely broadcast around the world, often in re-voiced into national languages. The original narrations were done by the actor Samuel West. Works of art featured range from Michelangelo's David for the first episode to Filippo Lippi's Adoration of the Christ Child for the last. The series was produced by independent TV production company Fulmar Television & Film, based in Cardiff. The series producer, who also devised the concept of the programme, was Jeremy Bugler. The series was praised by the TV critic of The Times, David Chater, who listed it at Number 30 in The top 50 TV shows of the Noughties.