Thrift Find - Big (45" x 36"), Beautiful Painting of Napoleon - but signature 1/2 covered by frame!

I found this beautiful painting (it is a painting - I can see & feel certain brush strokes) of Napoleon at a friend's thrift store as it was coming off the truck that had just finished with a large donation from a home in Miami.
The only problem is it looks like the first part of the signature is covered by the frame.
Would anyone happen to recognize the name by the last part of it?
Any thoughts on the painting (I know it's not a old master but it's not a factory painting is it?
Thanks for any help with this.
PS - I took a photo of the back but when I uploaded to my computer it didn't open - I will take another one when I get home!

 

Looks like a copy of this famous painting with Napoleon riding Marengo.
Artist is Jaques Louis David

 

Beware of those fancy frames. They deceive.

Debora

 

The artist has really spruced up Marengos teeth!

 

That's a copy all right.

 

Perhaps the copy is at Malmaison and Journey has the original?

Debora

 

I think you could be on to something.

 

What's up with the horse's eye? Looks like there was some doping involved!

 

Startled by a painter he didn't know.

 

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it eat the ham" - Napoleon Dynamite ...

 

Some art schools require students to paint a copy of a well known painting. I would pull it out of the frame to see who the artist is. Probably unlikely, but if it is someone that is well known, it could have more value than you think.

That's what my horse looked like when she saw the Vet or a mouse.

 

Screams China.

Debora

 

It doesn't scream China Debora; but it did whisper it!
Here is the back & some code or inventory number?

 

Which is exactly why the horse didn't know the painter.

 

I beg to differ, I had to cover my ears, it was screaming all the way across the Atlantic.

 

If by signature you mean "...BAL," that is not a signature. It is "HANNIBAL." On the original painting by Jacques-Lous David (posted by Houseful), the names BONAPARTE, HANNIBAL, & KARLVS MAGNUS [Chalemagne] are written on the rocks, equating Napoleon Bonaparte with two historical conquerors who famously crossed the Alps. (Historical note: Napoleon did not ride a rearing horse across the Alps. He valued his life and chose a mule for his mount.)

 

Once again, I'll recommend if one is gonna buy art then they start going to museums and looking at digital collections because this copies the most famous painting of Napoleon. I'm not sure why the horse is changed but the face of the rider is not (if it were inserting another person for example).

Agreed it is more likely a factory painting than a student's master copy.

Journey, are you Goggle Lensing your purchases beforehand?

 

Frames and paintings often did not start life together so you can't go by anything on the frame to ID a painting