Help With Signature On Antique Oil Portrait

The year looks like 1891 but not sure about the name. Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

Looks like Randolph

 

M.W. Randolph or at least that what it looks like to me.

 

I'm with S-I-S.

 

thanks. appears to be not a listed artist. or this could be the name of the portrayed woman?

 

I think it's the artist. I don't think a sitter's name is generally included on a portrait unless it is an "official" portrait of a prominent individual. And then it's more prominent and clearer.

 

I don't know if it matters but the signature is not at the lower end but right above her shoulder.
I got the painting in Norfolk, Va.
Found a 1900 Virginia Pilot that mentions Mrs. M.W. Randolph but I have trouble figuring out what is it about.

 

It does look like a professional portrait. The surface seems to me to have an oddly matte finish. Is that just the photo?

 

forgot the link
http://virginiachronicle.com/cgi-bin/virginia?a=d&d=VP19000421.1.11

the surface is in kind of not very good condition. needs some cleaning. the piece was very dusty and dirty. I almost missed the siggy, had to wet it down to make it more clear. Did a light cleaning with damp cloth but don't want to try more and do some harm.

 

I live in Virginia and the Randolphs are an old family here so it may be kind of hard to narrow down.

http://www.vahistorical.org/collect.../virginias-colonial-dynasties/randolph-family

 

"Found a 1900 Virginia Pilot that mentions Mrs. M.W. Randolph but I have trouble figuring out what is it about."

That old 1900 Virginian Pilot newspaper which you posted the link to with the name "Mrs. M. W. Randolph" contains that particular name in a "national?" advertisement for a "ladies' medicine' for the "change of life." The "Mrs. M. W. Randolph" asking the question in the advertisement shows her residence (the question coming from) Concordia, Kansas.

 

Speaking of Kansas, wonder if that is the same woman from the newspaper
http://www.kansasmemory.org/mobile/i/90778

 

Oh my goodness, Kardinalisimo, you may be on the right track with Margaret Watson Randolph (MWR) out in Kansas. Hope this pans out for you -- could be a good find given her suffrage work/interests.

 

Could there be an "A"? This Anna Margaret Watson Randolph looks like it could be her and I'm guessing it's the one meant ^. Here are pics of her older and younger than yours.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=100195551

 

But in that period of time, wouldn't the initials be her husband's and not her own?

 

I think she dropped the "Anna" part and was known as "Margaret Watson Randolph."

Given that she may have been fairly involved in the suffrage movement (obviously involved enough to have been remembered for it if the link to "Kansas Memory.org" is correct) she may have been known as "Margaret Watson Randolph" in her later life (1890s if not before).

 

I flipped the photo from the grave site and darkened the hair, what do you think (ok not the best photo edit).

 

I think I see a resemblance -- that exposed ear in each is large and "set low" to my way of thinking. To me the chin and nose seem right also. It almost makes me wonder if the painting was done from this/a photograph as a "younger" version later in her life.

 

I agree to a point. There's the curly hair, which could be a case of fashion of course. But the other thing is that the apples of the cheek are much more prominent in the photo than in the painting. In the painting her cheeks look flat.

 

Wonder if the Kansas and the Virginia Randolphs are related.