O'Brien, a somewhat shady art dealer and owner of The Florentine Gallery, has invited March to his gallery and tells him that he has the original "Second Mona Lisa," painted six months after the famous painting. Even after O'Brien shows him the painting, March has his doubts saying that it is well known that renown collector and art expert Mathew Constable owns the painting. They get Constable himself to look at the painting and to his and March's surprise authenticates it as being the original. There are two bidders for the painting, one an Arabian Emir (played as a buffoon by Pohlmann) and the other a wealthy American. Stereotypically, the wealthy American turns out to be a Texas oilman who wouldn't know a da Vinci from a Monet but only wants the painting for the centerpiece in a museum named after him back in Texas. The Texan wins the bid but later claims that the painting was switched for a copy. March sorts it all out. The highlight of this episode was seeing Alan Wheatley as O'Brien. I fondly remember Wheatley as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the wonderful Robin Hood television show. This episode is very entertaining.
Review of The Second Mona Lisa
