YAPID (Yet Another Painting ID)

[beamjockey]

A friend has inherited a house. She found this painting there. I have only one snapshot of it at the moment.

It shows a Madonna mother and child reading a book, while angels look on. We are all wondering what value the painting may have. The family doesn't know the artist or the date of the painting. It is possible that documentation may turn up as she goes through the house. Better photos might also be obtained. There appear to be five large pinkish blobs of damage near the lower center of the painting.

Do you know when this might have been painted, or by whom? Are there clues in the style? Is it likely original, or is it an imitation of a better-known painting?

There must be plenty of people on the Net more knowledgeable about art than I. Probably I am not many handshakes away from some of them.

If you know someone who might be able to comment, please pass a link along.


Click on any picture to see a higher-resolution version.


4 April 2011-- Edited to add: The owner has requested that I remove images of the painting. bluejo's aunt was kind enough to point out that the painting depicts "Education of the Virgin;" the child is Mary, the mom is St. Anna (or Anne), and the bearded man is Mary's father, St. Joachim. She adds, "It looks Spanish seventeenth century."

Comments

[marsgov.livejournal.com]

They key is that guy in the lower right-hand corner. For some reason he looks familiar... I'm reminded of a famous Reneissance-ear painter who sometimes had (across several paintings) this same old guy.

Looked a bit, doesn't seem to be Rembrandt although that's who came to mind.

Is there some reason to believe this is actually a valuable painting?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

You're right. Thanks to papersky's aunt, quoted below, we now know that the guy is St. Joachim, father of Mary and grandfather of Jesus, so you have probably seen him in other paintings.

Is there some reason to believe this is actually a valuable painting?

The deceased relative was the last of several generations of creative, world-traveling people to dwell in that house. It contains many odd, potentially valuable, and dangerous things. For example, there was a kit for a motorcycle that was never assembled. From 1913.

My friend is trying to sort through mineral specimens, antique tools, art objects, ammunition, and so forth. I can't tell you anything more about this particular painting.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! Thanks to you and your aunt.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

Would it help to upload the picture to Picassa and see if the face recognition can identify the people?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

The images I show are already in Picasa (click them). I haven't used the face feature. I know johnridley has been playing with it.

This seems unlikely to work, but it costs nothing to try. And if by chance it DID work, it would make a really great story.

[mrs-sweetpeach.livejournal.com]

If you ask me, this entire post (including the comments) makes a great story.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

It looks like canvas stretched over a frame. Does it look to you like it was painted on the frame, or painted elsewhere and then put on the frame? What does it look like from the back?

Even with these answers, I probably can't do much to help, but maybe someone else could. An interesting find!

[charlie-meadows.livejournal.com]

"For example, there was a kit for a motorcycle that was never assembled. From 1913."

Jeez, how many visitors to this blog have some project like that? "Yup, been meanin' ta get ta thet..."

A familiar example of this (to mathematicians, anyway) is Ramanujan's "Lost Notebook": briefly, R. died in 1920, leaving a thick sheaf of manuscript papers put in the hands of G.N. Watson for scrutiny, editing, and, ultimately, publication; it was recovered from a pile on the floor of Watson's flat a couple years after his death in 1965; and at least edited and published within the last six years...