Featured Longshot landscape watercolor

I’ve had this piece for a while and have really developed a crush on it. Can’t imagine anyone has the foggiest idea who it could be by? Initials and a city are all there is to go on. Pretty sure getting struck by lightning has better odds.

Edit: Oh and a year. Can’t forget the year. 1890 that is.

 

It reads "PISA" but that would have to refer to a village without the province, not the town. "After" implies that it's a copy of another work or in the style of another painter. Those rooftop loggias (like this one) are fairly distinctive. They may provide a clue as to location.

Debora

 

I can see why. It makes you feel at home.

What makes you think that it can't be of the town? The photo you found is of a Tuscan village, but it isn't the same view.
Or am I missing something?

 

Doesn't look like the town of Pisa to my eye. The photo is just an example of a rooftop loggia, similar to that in the painting, not an attempt to identify the location.

Debora

 

Maybe a copy after Joseph Lindon Smith, who was in Pisa in 1890:
https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/305944

 

Now that's a very interesting idea.

Debora

 

What do the first set of initials read? I see "RJB". Is that correct?

Debora

 

I did a search for "villages in Pisa" and clicked on images to see if I could find a church roof coming to a point like that one. Lots of little red-roofed towns but didn't find a building with those arches. Of course, two world wars could have destroyed those buildings so I didn't see a match.

 

I think it is in the town of Pisa, just a lesser known part.

 

To my eye, the mountains look a bit close for it to be Pisa itself. Here is a list of the comuni in Pisa province.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_municipalities_of_the_Province_of_Pisa

Debora

 

That is a great find. Thanks so much. Turns out the guy that gave the museum that painting was also a professor at Harvard. He also happens to be an early supporter of JLS. He took him on a 2-3 year tour of Europe to study the masters. https://gizamedia.rc.fas.harvard.edu/images/MFA-images/Giza/GizaImage/full/library/allam_smith.pdf

I acquired the painting I own from an estate in a wealthy suburb not far from the institution aforementioned.

 

I read RDG or RBG. I’m out of town at the moment so I can only reference my photo in this post.

 

Thanks for all the thoughts on location and clues provided to support those thoughts guys.