Featured Can anyone provide information about these paintings?

I came across 2 older paintings. It's hard to date them, but probably from the early 20th century. They are both ~5x8 in. Unfortunately, I don't know much more about them. Is anyone here able to identify who may have painted them and whether they are reproductions of some better known works?

 

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Thank you.

 

The old lady is signed Rembrandt. http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_305063/Rembrandt-Van-Rijn/Portrait-of-an-old-woman,-aged-83

 

The Pierrot is likely this fellow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Sidney_Percy

Debora

 

It is sad how fake art conquers the world. Both "Rembrandt" portraits are fake. Neither have Rembrandt's quality, to put it nicely.
You can order the wikigallery one, as it says. But I do like the way jfrankl's portrait has both 'made in holland' and 'n. Rembrandt', n. for not?

Rembrandt painted several women in this kind of dress, the regular dress for well to do Dutch Protestant ladies of the time, this is one of them:


The faces on both fakes remind me a bit of the portrait of Elisabeth Bas by Ferdinand Bol:

 

I think the little "n" in front of Rembrandt stands for naar which as I recall from ceramic paintings means "from a painting by" "copy of" "from" or something along those meanings.

 

Could be. Yes 'naar Rembrandt' means after Rembrandt or in the manner of Rembrandt. It is an honest amateur painting, and someone enjoyed painting it over a weekend.

 

Come to think of it, the 'made in Holland' painting could be what we call a BKR painting.
From 1956-1987 Dutch artists could apply for a grant through the 'Beeldende Kunstenaars Regeling', short BKR.
In return they had to hand in work regularly, in some municipalities they had to hand something in every week. Needless to say, it led to some artists just putting something together hastily, after all, it is impossible to produce a masterpiece in a week, every week. And their wouldn't be any time left to do commissioned work or to put together a collection for exhibitions.
The sense of humour (made in Holland) of this painter could point to BKR art. As if the painter said, if you want a painting a week, you only get souvenir 'art'.

 

I like the guy in red. What does the inscription say? I would guess that's original. Probably Pierrot (as Deborah said) but not the traditional costume.

The other looks to be a simple souvenir.

 

I join Moreotherstuff in wondering "[w]hat does the inscription say?" on the "guy in red."

 

Inscription - (something) Felicitations to Miss Sybil Palliser on her Marriage Tues Nov (xx) 1929."

 

Bakersgma, "thank you" times three!!!

 

1908.

http://www.palliser.co.uk/sybil.htm

Debora

 

The last number is definitely a 9, although you could certainly be correct on the 0 instead of a 2.

Perhaps this is also come kind of repro and the painter made a mistake?

 

Or a second marriage? After all, her husband died in 1916.

 

Could be. But would it make sense to call her "Miss" and her maiden name?

 

Good point, it probably wouldn't.
It could be a mistake on the site. I've seen a lot of mistakes on genealogy sites while researching my family.
By the way, the source for the webpage was the 'Cyclopaedic Dictionary of Music' of 1925, so before 1929.

 

It indeed seems to be dated a year late. The signature looks closer to this Herbert Sidney. It seems like an odd choice to paint "in the style of." I wonder what the painter had in mind.

 

Is it correct to assume the "RBA" after S. Herbert is "Royal Society of British Artists"?

Here is a page with his signatures:

http://www.mikesclark.com/genealogy/paintings/paintings_HSP.html

I'm no appraiser, but my guess would be if it is his work, someone else wrote the signature later, as it looks distinctly different from the listed signatures. Of course with all art, there's more mystery to be discovered! Personally, I like the frame for this piece the best, are there any labels/markings on the back of the frame?