Help ID SCRATCHED SIGNATURE in Oil Painting of Old Man with Pipe

On this one I'm possibly seeing 'Marastoni'.

 

The artist in most of the pictures put up are by Italian artist Filippo Marantonio,who painted similar works of Italian fishermen.Just not sure that it is his signature on your painting as he tended to sign his name in a dark colour at an angle just under the potrait,but maybe some one can find a signature on one of his paintings similar to yours.Its not a million miles away from his name IMO.

 

Brilliant! I found a few pics of marantonio's work on the internet, and indeed the signature structure is virtually identical. Amazingly detailed paintings and I'm surprised they are not very expensive.


QUOTE:
The artist in most of the pictures put up are by Italian artist Filippo Marantonio,who painted similar works of Italian fishermen.Just not sure that it is his signature on your painting as he tended to sign his name in a dark colour at an angle just under the potrait,but maybe some one can find a signature on one of his paintings similar to yours.Its not a million miles away from his name IMO.

 

I own the painting of the young girl and the old man pipe smoking, photos that I posted. The young girl painting I got on ebay. It was painted on a very stiff board material, that seemed like cellulose (not wood). However, the material could be cut with strong scissors, and is slightly bendable (which is why the girl painting was cracked a bit). I noticed that the artist had left a border of about 1/4 inch of non-painted board around the painting, to allow space for a frame. This board material on the front of the painting had an orange-brown color, and was similar in color and texture as the unpainted board material of the pipe smoker with the Italian hat shown in the original posting.