Late 1800s - early 1900s floral oil painting by art teacher?

The only reason I ask if this was done by an art teacher, is because the way it's signed with Mr. before the name. The frame is a little jacked up on the bottom. It's oil on board.

 

What do you think the sig says? The last name looks like Haney to me... Rob Haney?

 

It looks like R.E Haney to me.

 

Is that picture from another site?

 

Here's a closer pic. Maybe Herley? R.E. Herley?

 

I thought perhaps it was Hency, but I don't find any names like that either.
Plus, it sort of looks like there is something after the "y".

 

I think the first part is Mme.

 

Sure does look like Hervey to me now. I wonder what the possible Mme stands for. I guess that's what you have to like about the mystery of a signature.

 

Madame - French for "Mrs."

Or Mademoiselle (why does that look wrong?) - for Miss.

 

I just read that Mme is used in France to describe a Madame, "My Lady" . In English it's referred to as "Dame". It appears that this might be a painting from France or Britian.

 

Mme is the abbreviation for "Madam/Madame" meaning a "married" (or widowed) woman.

It is possible (depending on how old the painting is) that it is her "married" name shown as her husband's initials and (of course) surname. Some social "conventions" still follow that rule rather strictly.

She may have been in a "select" ladies' group partaking of art instruction.

 

Armando, it well may be a painting from England or France, but it doesn't have to be based on the "Mme" -- if the painting goes back to the 1800s - early decades of the 1900s, even here in the USA.

Goodness gracious, I can't begin to tell you how many times I have had to address / use the (old) terms "Messr(s)" and "Esquire(s)" which can be abbreviated "Esq." following the name.

P.S. the "yuck" is for all the occasions my handwriting was called into play using those terms.

 

True, I should of said by someone of possible French or British decent.

 

I have to take more pictures because I do believe there's a piece of paper on the the reverso. I didn't have a picture of it when I posted this thread. I want to have this painting cleaned. I'm sure it would look some much better afterwards. I don't know how to clean it. So I thought about taking it somewhere.

 

I tried to clean it up a bit but it still looks like the heap from Fraggle Rock.

 

Looks like Harvey to me. The A is much like the typewritten ( a ). This is a candidate for cleaning if I ever saw one. The question is whether or not it is worth the time and effort.

 

Just FYI, I print the lower-case letter a like that, and that's why I assumed it was an a.

 

It looks better than it does now. It could only look better. Again, I would pay for it to be cleaned. It can't hurt the value to do so.