'Allo 'Allo's Fallen Madonna sells for £15,000 at auction Published duration 1 December 2018

image copyright East Bristol Auctions image caption The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies was supposedly painted by fictional artist Van Clomp

A portrait made famous in the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo has been sold for £15,000.

The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies, by fictional artist Van Clomp, was a running joke in the show, which ran between 1982 and 1992.

The infamous prop was previously sold in 2007 for £4,000 to a private buyer.

Auctioneer Andy Stowe, said the latest buyer was from Nouvion in France where the series was set so "it was going home".

The priceless but elusive masterpiece was the centrepiece to every episode of the classic sitcom.

Stolen and relentlessly pursued by the Germans, the artwork was rolled into German sausages, shoved down trouser legs and singed by an exploding gilded frame intended as a gift for Adolf Hitler.

Described as "a rare and important piece of British sitcom history" the prop was one of the few copies of the picture to have survived all nine series of the show.

image caption 'Allo 'Allo was set in German-occupied France during World War Two

image copyright East Bristol Auctions image caption The portrait by fictional artist Van Clomp sold for £15,000

Mr Stowe, from East Bristol Auction House in Hanham, said: "I've been overwhelmed by the amount of interest.

"And £15,000 for a TV prop is just fantastic. It's sold for more than most real artworks go for - there are Old Masters that can't get that amount."

Set in a café in Nouvion in German-occupied France during World War Two, 'Allo 'Allo poked fun at the Gestapo, French Resistance and the British.

Mr Stowe said: "We had 25 bidders from all over the world but it was a chap from Nouvion in France, the place where the show was set, that got it...

"It's the best result, the painting is effectively going home."

The painting had an estimate of between £5,000 and £10,000.

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