Fiona Bruce 'makes dumbing down an art'

But the relentless rise of Fiona Bruce, 47, has offended some after she was accused of being "boring" and responsible for "dumbing down" of the Corporation's arts programming.

Lady Lucinda Lambton, 68, a writer and broadcaster on history and architecture, criticised the newsreader for being unqualified and not highbrow enough to front recent shows on Leonardo da Vinci and the royal palaces.

Speaking at a Country Life event at Fortnum & Mason, Lady Lucinda, said: "Why on earth did she get to present that programme on Leonardo da Vinci recently? It was quite clear she hadn't got a clue what she was talking about.

"She did another programme in which she examined the famous dolls' house in Windsor Castle and completely failed to mention it was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. She does not explain things properly and is boring and bland. I really am against this kind of dumbing down of the arts."

There was also online criticism of Bruce when the programme Da Vinci: The Lost Treasure aired last month.

The documentary included the first filming of a masterpiece which had previously been thought lost, Leonardo Da Vinci's 1513 Salvator Mundi, which was bought in a clearance sale for £45 and is estimated to be worth up to £125 million. Waldemar Januszczak, an art critic who writes for The Sunday Times, tweeted: "Watching Fiona Bruce on Leonardo is like being taught art history by a St Trinian's girl."

However Martin Kemp, a history of art professor at Oxford who took part in the documentary, today defended Bruce saying she was the right choice to reach a wider audience. "I have no problem at all using a so called celebrity presenter if it makes the subject more accessible," he said.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "The BBC engages presenters from a wide range of backgrounds to front arts programmes. Fiona's acuity, her expertise in languages, her enthusiasm for arts and history and her journalistic approach, mean that she is well placed to offer new perspectives on arts content. As a much-loved BBC presenter across a variety of programmes, Fiona also helps to attract new audiences to BBC Arts programming."