'Allo 'Allo's famous topless portrait 'The Fallen Madonna With The Big Boobies' arrives in France after a British ex-pat paid £18,000 for it at auction and has hung it up in his living room to show off to his Normandy neighbours
- Alistair Assheton, a vineyard owner, has bought the prop from his favourite show
- Many 'Fallen Madonnas' were made during 1980s/90s but only one survived
- The series ran from 1982 to 1992, set in a café in German-occupied France
A painting at the centre of a long-running 'Allo 'Allo plotline is now hanging in a Normandy living room after a British vineyard owner snapped it up for £18,000.
Ex-pat Alistair Assheton bought the 'Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies' at auction and has 'returned' it to France, where it was hilariously fought over in the Second World War-set sitcom.
The painting prop, by fictional artist Van Clomp, was the subject of a farce that involved the French Resistance going to comical lengths to hide it from the occupying Germans.
The painting – The Fallen Madonna With The Big Boobies – by the fictional artist Van Clomp, was a central prop in the Second World War comedy and has now been snapped up at auction for £18,000
At the centre of the slapstick was cafe owner and reluctant Resistance worker Rene Artois, played by the late Gordon Kaye.
Although many 'Fallen Madonna' paintings were produced for the show that ran for 10 years, only one has survived.
It had belonged to a production designer for the BBC comedy who sold it to a private collector in 2007.
Ex-pat Alistair Assheton, a vineyard owner bought the prop and has hung it on his living room wall in Normandy, France
Mr Assheton has placed the novelty art work in his living room at his home in Normandy to show off to his French friends and neighbours.
His home is three hours from Nouvion - the town in Picardie where 'Allo 'Allo! was set.
Mr Assheton, a partner at a vineyard, has since posted a picture of the 'Fallen Madonna' on social media with the words 'Good moaning', a reference to the character Officer Crabtree, a British spy posing as a French policeman with a dreadful Gallic accent.
Andy Stowe, of East Bristol Auctions, said: 'He was really pleased he bought it because 'Allo 'Allo! was his favourite TV show.
'He was a phone bidder for the sale and when he won it he and his family cheered so loud the whole room could hear it.
'He drove all the way from France to Bristol to collect it.
'I think he just wanted keep it on his wall to look at and show off to his friends. He is very proud of it.
Lieutenant Hubert Gruber, played by Guy Siner, is pictured with the iconic painting during a scene from 'Allo 'Allo. During the series the paintings were often hidden in sausages, buried in the ground or in other amusing places
'It is a bit ironic that the painting has returned to norther France where 'Allo 'Allo! was based. I suppose it's an example of life imitating art.'
The comedy series ran from 1982 to 1992 and was set in a small-town café in German-occupied France during the Second World War.
The painting was a regular prop throughout the series, with elaborate plots to hide it and move it from the Germans that resulted in many comical scenes.
It was often concealed in a knackwurst sausage, paving the way for double entendre jokes.
The one that sold in Bristol appeared in the very final episode called A Winkle In Time, when the portrait is re-discovered in the arm of a statue outside Café Rene.
René Artois, played by Gorden Kaye, tries to hide the painting down his shirt during a scene from the famous sitcom. For the past decade it has been hanging on a living room wall in the Midlands
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