W Toovey painting

Does anyone know who the artist is please? Perhaps the only reference I can find is William Toovey 1844, who was involved in printing. His brother Edwin was an artist. Other than that, no clues.

W Toovey painting by JunkshopJim posted Jun 14, 2022 at 10:36 AM

W Toovey painting by JunkshopJim posted Jun 14, 2022 at 10:36 AM

W Toovey painting by JunkshopJim posted Jun 14, 2022 at 10:36 AM

 

Found an enigmatic entry in the Art-Union Journal of 1847:



The scene looks Germanic to me:

 

William Toovey the printer had links to Belgium so this adds to it. Thank you.

PS your text Says tovey and not toovey. I will look it up

 

I think the location might be the Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk in Mechelen, Belgium.

 

Yeah, there's a double o there.

 

Sure does! Good find.

 

I don't know how you found that but thank you. Religious buildings are quite prolific in Belgium.

 

IMHO The signature may be Tooney? That v looks like an n maybe?
Mikey

 

I've just done a Google image search of W Tooney artist and the results were a load of artist's impressions of Mr Potato Head himself and Coleen in the dock.

 

Reminds me of Corot's work. Exploring light and volume.

Debora

 

Tantalizing snippets off the internet:

"... two talented partners, an artist-lithographer Gustave Simonau (1810-1870) and his brother-in-law william Toovey (1821-1914), printer and technician [Fig. 10]. Simonau & Toovey applied a patent photolithography process to reproduce ..."

"... William Toovey, deceased, of W. Wratting Park, Cambs. ... A sound painter and a good colourist, but most notable as a writer and lecturer on art; chiefly responsible for introducing French ... "

Debora

 

Ah so he was a painter. Thanks.

 

Looks like whatever is after the date (which looks like 1844) is just too faint to 'pull out'.......

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I never noticed anything after the date. I will have another look.

 

I think it's just the way that the light catches it. Dont think there is anything there.

 

Jim, do you know if this is painted on paper or millboard? Just asking because there appears to be some acid staining in the sky. Could be damage caused by the wood backer if it's touching the painting. If the painting is on paper, I'd recommend professionally remounting on archival matboard. You can save the wood backer, however I'd just make sure nothing acidic is damaging the painting itself. Just my 2 cents. Looks like a neat/fascinating painting!

 

Hi there. I took one of the wooden planks off the back to have a look for clues when I first bought it a few months ago. There is an old newspaper behind the boards. I left it there as I thought it was an important part of the history of the whole thing. Are you saying that the paper is causing the damage? Also is there anything i need to do to treat the painting to prevent further damage? Thanks for the advice.

Edit: I've just looked into restoration. Apparently they float the paintings in a specialist water based solution. Not for the faint hearted! Apparently the gum Arabic binds the pigment to the paper and the solution sucks all the discolouration out. Although certain types of painting are sensitive to this type of treatment. Bit of a bum twitching moment.

 

What is the painting painted on? Artist millboard, canvas, or paper?

If the painting's surface is just a piece of paper or canvas sitting against the newspaper, the acid from the newspaper may be damaging it. If it were me, the newspaper is free, and the painting isn't fragile I'd carefully remove the newspaper and place in a folder to keep with the painting. While the newspaper is out, definitely take pictures of it to check for more clues.

Basically, you just don't want any acidic materials touching the front or rear of the painting's surface. Wood, newspaper, older paper, and many other materials tend to be acidic. To Be or Not to Be Acid Free? - WhatTheyThink If the painting is directly under the newspaper but not glued to it, you may be able to just swap it for matboard. Alternatively, it may need to be professionally remounted. I don't know how your painting has been framed/mounted.

You probably don't need to perform any restoration now. My goal (if possible/safe) would be to just keep any acid damage from progressing! IMO the vertical brown stain was not originally a part of the painting.

 

Cheers dude. I'll have a look if it's possible to remove it. It looks like the painting is on paper. The planks come out easy enough.

Ps the vertical line coincides with the gap in the two planks on the back. Possibly exposure of the newspaper to the air has made it turn acidic and in turn discoloured the painting

 

(OT...Not my proudest moment but I've been drawn into this like a moth to a flame. No idea why I'm so interested, got no time for any of them but I am fascinated :O )