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

There it is: the sleeping dog represents "license" - thank you Debora and Jivvy.

 

If there is any such convention, it is unknown to me, but I'm not anything like a painting expert. The people in the background here do not exactly look like they are going about their daily lives.

I started down, then quickly jumped back out of, the rabbit hole of guild seals, as it was leading me into some D&D/New Agey Wonderland. However, I do think such devices would not have been confined to printers, that masters of various trades & crafts probably had them, as in the excerpt Jivvy posted, as a guarantee of authenticity & quality, the guild member's proud equivalent of a coat of arms.

I think Colonial Williamsburg is just tapping into the same tradition & would not be likely to be helpful with our inquiry.

The Academia di San Luca is the Roman counterpart of London's Royal Academy, just a lot older.

The dancers are odd in a couple of ways, one of which is that they are an even number. Three would have given them the look of the Graces, as they have come to be represented, except the discarded clothing & everything else about the scene would have said otherwise. But an even number of flowers in a vase, beads on a necklace or dancers on a canvas leaves a void as the center point of the composition; odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye. The other odd thing here as that you could see the foursome as a group of an inward facing three & an outward facing one. Is she leading the others? Are they swinging her around like a human carnival ride? Did she drink the contents of the jug by herself?

I asked about the instrument because I think I'm seeing a lyre, not a herdsman's instrument unless he also happens to be a prince, common enough in myth. Pipes are traditional for such folk. Looking again at the brighter photo, think the man on the left does indeed have a flute. If there has been overpainting, guy on the right may be meant to have a small drum, which would be consistent with the scene.

I had the thought that it could be Midsummer revels.

There was a time when nothing in a painting was without meaning. Is there significance here in the 2 goat herd/musicians appearing to be one young & one older? In the 3 inward facing dancers appearing to have lighter hair than the the one facing outward? I do not know. Suspect the castle is there more to set the scene as on the lands of an estate than to place it anywhere recognizable. They are not in the woodland; it's a pastoral setting.

 

just bringing this forward (so it's on the current page, at least for a bit)

 

Thank you! =^)

 

Was tweaking the pic trying to see the background peeps better, when I thought I recognized the instruments one of the guys is playing.

I swears, it's what I see.

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/old-european-medieval-wooden-musician-statue.41326/#post-904158

 

Def close. I think the instrument that the older guy is holding was something more like this or a pan flute. Makes me wonder why it was changed.
Wait, it does look like the shape of the bag on the mans chest. Hmm...

 

Reasonable possiblility & much more congruent with the scene than a lyre would be. After all, the Graces they are not.

 

I was trying to remember where I had seen a painting on board cut to that shape before:


https://www.invaluable.com/auction-...eph-sauvage-flemish-1744-1818-63-c-32848a2b0b

And because I never miss an opportunity to put these guys up:

 

I'm not convinced it has been changed -- I think his hands match up.

 

https://www.lempertz.com/en/catalogues/lot/1094-1/23-flemish-school-17th18th-century.html

Just casting around.

 

Now this is Satanic:



https://www.christies.com/lotfinder...mandijn-the-witches-cove-5629967-details.aspx

 

Yes, I think you’re correct!! I would love to have it restored, but am petrified of someone ruining it. Imagine what we can’t really see anymore. Glad to have the fresh eyes to give it a look.

 

Yes, that is a pretty creepy painting when you look at it closely.
Though as a kid I did find this painting to be dark; maybe as if the women were witches. I’m sure that was my young imagination that went along with the rest of the dark and wondrous things in my ggfathers house. ;^)

 

Maybe some expert advice could be had from these folks:

https://hnanews.org/

 

Thank you!

 

Does anyone else think the figure on the right could have a skull for a face?

I'm not convinced it is as old as you think, for some of the reasons that have been cited. But I wouldn't take it to a hack or try to restore it yourself, just in case it is early and has value. Since its been in your family for a while, maybe you would be willing to put the money into a restoration by a professional who really knows what they are doing. A professional that museums hire to do their restorations.

If you do, and you pick the right professional, they can tell you a lot more about the age of the wood and paint and the stylistic details. And their cleaning will probably make some of these obscure details much easier to see.

 

We have a family portrait that had "restoration work" done about 50 years ago.

And in my opinion, "fear of restoration" is perfectly sensible.

 

You're right, and my apologies to sabre123 for the incorrect attribution.

 

A UV light may give you some idea of whether there have been changes made to the paint.

Try to raise someone at the HNA, tell them what AR said & ask for other research resources/avenues you might pursue. Tell them where you are & ask if there is anyone who might take a look at it. If it falls within the scope of their interests, they may be very excited to see an otherwise 'unpublished' piece. I have had very positive experiences with getting help from museum professionals in response to inquiries about an item in their field.

 

I'm posting this because I don't know what these long skinny sticks are and I'm thinking @Bronwen might.