Featured Trying to find info on an old wood panel painting.

Discussion in 'Art' started by Jeanette Torello, Sep 23, 2019.

  1. Jeanette Torello

    Jeanette Torello Active Member

    58F34D82-40C8-4A51-B50A-16DFCF724555.jpeg 89AA1948-D025-4D49-A49E-0EF021EFB2CE.jpeg 4BF48A09-A70E-4877-B71B-A5F565EEEDD2.jpeg 7F838AB4-6C46-40D9-B45E-C9D74C80D913.jpeg My name is Jeanette and I’m here to see if someone can help solve the mystery of a painting that was my great grandfather’s. It’s oil on wood panel with a wax seal on the back. It hung in my ggd’s dining room in Brooklyn NY since I was a baby in the late 60’s, and my late mother had remembered it from her childhood as well. I was told he bought all his interesting furnishings from a man selling everything he owned. With that, the true history of the painting is lost. There is no signature but there is a wax seal on the back. I’m enclosing pics of both. Any info asto where I may be able to find out more or how I can research the seal would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
    Ok, I meant to add this before I reposted this from the introduction page:
    I took the painting to an Antiques Roadshow, but it was the end of the day by the time it was seen and we were rushed. We were told the wood panel was definitely from as early as the 16th century and that it was a common wood used among Flemish painters. It was not thought to be a reproduction, and there wasn’t enough time to investigate the seal. We were told to def do more research and to have it restored.
    Dimensions are 21 x 16 1/2

    Attached Files: 4BF48A09-A70E-4877-B71B-A5F565EEEDD2.jpeg 7F838AB4-6C46-40D9-B45E-C9D74C80D913.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2019
  2. Jivvy

    Jivvy the research is my favorite

    My guess is, the subject has something to do with Bacchus, but we really need @Bronwen here for that.

    It would be good to see a full picture of the back, even if you think there is nothing important there.

    And it might be good to give it another go with the picture of the seal. Try taking the pic outside in natural light, or near a window and make sure the lens is a minimum of 4-6 inches from the seal when you snap the pic.
     
  3. Jeanette Torello

    Jeanette Torello Active Member

    Ok thanks, I’ll try that.
     
  4. Jivvy

    Jivvy the research is my favorite

    Oh, and some will want to know dimensions.
     
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  5. Jeanette Torello

    Jeanette Torello Active Member

    I’ll post those too. ;^)
     
  6. Bakersgma

    Bakersgma Well-Known Member

    Welcome, Jeanette!

    Not at all sure if this will help, but when I saw the mark picture I immediately thought of the mark used for Colonial Williamburg Reproductions. Take a look at this link - it's for silver spoons, but keep in mind that the mark was used on all sorts of items reproduced and sold in the "gift shop."

    https://www.smpub.com/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000251.html
     
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  7. clutteredcloset49

    clutteredcloset49 Well-Known Member

    Bakers, I don't think it is the same.

    I see a 4 I
    then L R? or M?
    then XX

    upload_2019-9-23_8-55-27.png
     
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  8. Jivvy

    Jivvy the research is my favorite

    @clutteredcloset49 I totally see your point (I'm really stuck on the M/W), but I reserve judgment until we get a better picture.

    It's soooo close, imo, the crazier situation would be "not a match." :joyful:
     
  9. Bakersgma

    Bakersgma Well-Known Member

    I'm only guessing here, but the 4 at the top of a long line with 2 X's at the bottom, sure does resemble the Williamburg mark to me. You're right that the 2 "letters" on either side do not look a great deal like C and W, but I wonder if it could be related in some way.
     
  10. clutteredcloset49

    clutteredcloset49 Well-Known Member

    I was just thinking about this.
    An artist isn't going to sign their work with a wax seal.

    I'm more inclined to think the seal belonged to one of the owners of the painting.
    Possibly the man Jeanette's great grandfather bought it from.
     
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  11. Jivvy

    Jivvy the research is my favorite

  12. clutteredcloset49

    clutteredcloset49 Well-Known Member

    When did Williamsburg start making reproductions?

    OP says she was born in the 60s.
    Her mother remembers it as a child, so guessing her mother was born in the 30s-40s.
    So just surmising mother's grandfather purchased it in the early 1900s.
     
  13. clutteredcloset49

    clutteredcloset49 Well-Known Member

    Oh! very good! ! !
    @Jivvy
     
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  14. Jivvy

    Jivvy the research is my favorite

    I'm now wondering about the origin of the Colonial Williamsburg Reproductions mark.

    Because as surely as these two things don't appear to be a match, they are related. :confused:
     
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  15. Bakersgma

    Bakersgma Well-Known Member

    I agree there, Pat! I wasn't thinking of it as an artist sig, but more like a place at which it was purchased originally?

    Can anyone find the original of this image?
     
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  16. Bakersgma

    Bakersgma Well-Known Member

    Thank you, Jivvy!!!
     
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  17. Bakersgma

    Bakersgma Well-Known Member

    Gotta go out for a while - picking up my new glasses. ;)
     
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  18. Jeanette Torello

    Jeanette Torello Active Member

  19. Jivvy

    Jivvy the research is my favorite

    In the new pics, I see "L" and "IX" instead of "C" and "W"

    temp02.jpg
     
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  20. Jivvy

    Jivvy the research is my favorite

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