Barbizon School?

This is an oil on canvas glued to board. About 40 X 50 CM.

No signature.

Reminds me of the Barbizon School style. No idea if it dates to that time period or not.

A thrift store find.

 

Looking at the cows and ducks or swanns seems to be a Sunday painter

 

Done with a very sure hand. Pity it's not signed. Have you taken it out of the frame?

Debora

 

Not by anyone who is anyone. Talented amateur at best although on second thoughts maybe just amateur not trained artist.

Sorry but that's what i see.

 

It didn't come with a frame, I used one I had laying around. I thought it suited it pretty well.

Here's a photo of the back of it - just a plain wooden board - it looks like two sheets of thin veneer glued to a central core. Does that give a clue to it's age?

The second photo shows where the canvas is loose from the board.

Third photo shows the back of the canvas. Can anyone tell from this if it is cotton or linen? Does that help with dating it?

 

Yes, the board should help date it (by someone more knowledgable than I.) And I'm going to disagree with above. I would challenge anyone without formal art training to produce a work of this quality. Do you think that's the ocean in background? Can't tell from photograph.

Debora

 

I believe that is the ocean in the far ground, extending to the horizon with perhaps a bit of land jutting out right to left in the distance and what looks like waves breaking toward the shore..

I added a closeup of the back of the canvas to my post above.

 

Don't know how much you know about art but... Your painting is structured as a Claudian landscape. Here's an example by Claude Lorrain himself.

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

Debora

 

Actually @Spudnik, not to contradict, but it DOES look, to me, like there IS a TINY signature, way down in the lower right hand corner where I’ve circled.....since YOU have the painting in hand, can you put a magnifying glass on it??? Of course, I also could be wrong......SORRY, Changed the image....I recircled more to the left in the same corner as I think there’s more writing.....and I think it’s a bit clearer......

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How thick is the board? Could this be luan plywood? Usually the backs of those are black, and I don't think overlaid with canvas... but still. if so, that would indicate new and from the far east ( as in China). The panel certainly looks new.

 

I've attached a closeup of the right bottom of the painting, taken out of the frame. I think what you're seeing is some paint loss from scraping against a previous frame perhaps.

Also, I think it's possible that the painting has been cut down at some point in the past, perhaps to fit into a frame, and that the signature was lost at that time.

Let me know if you would like to see a closer picture of any other area.

 

The board is about 4mm thick.

Here's a closeup of the back. I hadn't noticed the regular shaped impression left by something that the back of the board had been pressed against in the past. Is it the shape of a previous frame? Any guesses? Does the difference in wood color where it seems to have been exposed to the air vs where it hasn't say anything about it's age?

 

Does look like luan plywood and used previously for something else. The painting could be older than the framing but, if so, not by too much. Certainly not a old as a Barbizon school painting.

 

No, that would be 1830-1870. This certainly looks much later.

Debora

 

Thank you everyone for your input. I agree with your assessment, that the board is relatively recent, and perhaps luan plywood.

A nice painting, well executed, but not a 19th century piece.