Featured Help with painting- what is the magic here?

Discussion in 'Art' started by Torkel Oftedal, Mar 28, 2019.

  1. Torkel Oftedal

    Torkel Oftedal Well-Known Member

    Hi all, i hope for your help once again. Of all the things my dad left me, this is one that i really wished that i would remember to ask him about before passing. For me it seem to be a pastel, not signed, clearly old, and with a motif from what seem to be the harbour of Messina. My dad had an excellent eye, he was educated at The Chicago Arts Institute, and he had a huge talent himself, but ended up in the advertising world (the Mad Men era) but for one reason i do not know, he always took great care of this work as something very special, and now i must admit i know nothing about it. The quesion is, is this only someting of sentimental value for him, or is there anything that anyone out there can say about the motif, the style and the age? It would be highly appreciated! 20181009_115456 (2)-1.jpg 20181009_115456.jpg 20181009_115504 (2)-1.jpg 20181009_115504-1.jpg 20181009_115531 (2).jpg 20181009_115512 (2)-1.jpg
     
  2. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Did he ever spend time there? An odd mix. A lot of it I would characterize as primitive, while the sky & the light on the mountains have more subtlety. Anything on the back? The painting people will want to see it regardless.
     
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  3. Torkel Oftedal

    Torkel Oftedal Well-Known Member

    I will have to find it to take a photo of the back, did not think of that, sorry! And i agree with you, it is an odd mix, it even has a damage (the brown stain) but he still kept it like something very special.. If he was there i do not know!
     
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  4. daveydempsey

    daveydempsey Moderator Moderator

    Looks like lava flowing down from the steaming volcano Mount Etna.
     
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  5. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Seems the buildings do look rather like that:

    [​IMG]
     
  6. April07

    April07 Well-Known Member

    I think it's beautiful. Looks like the artist was inspired in Henri Rousseau.
     
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  7. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    May be a pastel.

    Debora
     
  8. April07

    April07 Well-Known Member

    the waves look like brushstrokes to me
     
  9. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    Might be a gouache then. Quite an interesting viewpoint. Could possibly be early 1800s. A photograph of the back would be helpful. Did your father have it reframed? Frame doesn't appear to be same period as painting. Here's a list of Mt. Etna activity (which is not terribly helpful as it's fairly on-going.)

    http://www.ct.ingv.it/en/11-notizie/news/561-etna-eruptions-pre1900.html

    Debora
     
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  10. Torkel Oftedal

    Torkel Oftedal Well-Known Member

    I think you are right, that it is a gouache, more likely that than pastel. And i will take a photo of the back of it tomorrow and post it. And yes, it must be reframed, not original, but even that is a bit puzzling, as the frame is nicely done (to be done here) - and thus he must have spent some money on it. While a lot of the other works after him, barely hangs together with old and terrible framing! :)
     
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  11. Jeff Drum

    Jeff Drum Well-Known Member

    You need to keep a pastel/gouache behind glass or it will be ruined quickly. Unlike an oil/acrylic painting which is better left open without glass. So if the old frame broke he may have bit the bullet to reframe before too much damage done. Looks like tourist work to me from mid-20th century (though I could certainly be wrong), so I think his picking it up on a visit there makes sense.
     
  12. Aquitaine

    Aquitaine Is What It IS! But NEVER BORED!

    I'm leaning heavily towards gouache as well, but also find it interesting that the "matte" around the painting is hand painted on. Too bad the paper is also torn in several places, mostly along the edges, but I'm assuming that can be repaired (??). That's about all I can see about it........in mentioning brush strokes with the waves...I see no reason an artist couldn't mix textures in his painting.......
     
  13. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    That long facade was called the Palazzata, completed in the late 17thC and destroyed by an earthquake in 1783. At that time, the event was seen as analogous to the destruction of Pompeii.

    If you search Palazzata, you will find other images from the same perspective. This could even be a copy of one of those other images, and it could be late 18th or early 19thC. With that ominous volcano in the background, I doubt it predates the earthquake.

    It does look untrained to me, and might be a grand tour souvenir.

    As to why your father liked it so much: maybe he just liked it. Maybe he liked the naivete and the sense of pattern. It could have been a gift from someone special. He might have been fascinated by the event. You'll probably never know.
     
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  14. i need help

    i need help Moderator Moderator

  15. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    The discrepancies between Torkel's painting and other images of the same subject may suggest that this naive painting was based more on an oral accounting, or remembrance, than on visual references.
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2019
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  16. Torkel Oftedal

    Torkel Oftedal Well-Known Member

    You are right, i will never know, but it meant something, and i doubt very much taht it was a souvenir thing, as he travelled the world for all his life, and i never saw an attraction towards the souvenig market.. Who knows, maybe some other adventures took place there that made him sentimental!? ;) ;)
     
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  17. April07

    April07 Well-Known Member

    Do let us know if you find something on the back of the painting!
     
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  18. Torkel Oftedal

    Torkel Oftedal Well-Known Member

    Sorry, not much to see on the back- here is a photo, plus two more on the work itself. I may have to put this at rest, as there are so many uncertainties here- but i am very grateful for all your help here, as always! :) 2019-03-29 15.05.01-1.jpg 2019-03-29 15.05.44-1.jpg 2019-03-29 15.05.50-1.jpg
     
    judy likes this.
  19. Jeff Drum

    Jeff Drum Well-Known Member

    It looks like a label on the back, are you able to read it?
     
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  20. Jivvy

    Jivvy the research is my favorite

    There's also something handwritten just below the center of the chain.
     
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