identify painting

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

One of my relatives has asked for help identifying a painting, and I have no idea how to go about it. Would anyone have suggestions? I tried to attach a copy of the painting, but it's 1.44 mb - too large to attach. He wrote:

Can you possibly find out who the artist is, when this was painted, who the family members are, and what the approximate value might be on the attached painting? I don't have too much information other than:

This beautiful painting that has been in my family for several generations.
It was given to my mother's mother, Cornelia von Koschembahr, by Cornelia
Roosevelt who married one of my ancestors, Baron von Zedlitz, in New York on January 16, 1889. One of my aunts remembers the painting hanging in their Lake Lugano, Switzerland home during the early 1920's. It is circa
18th-19th century; however, the back is covered with paper, and we have not wanted to remove it. We have not been able to find any indication as to the painter or year. It is approximately 36 x 48.

Can you please perhaps identify the family in the painting, the artist and
year, an approximate value, and/or provide any information about the
painting?

[Sten53 Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Sten53]

Painting

If you can attach it to a regular email I have had some luck with Museums in other countries. Google a museum in Switzerland or where they think it came from. I had some Japanese Block prints with the paper on the back and didn't want to remove it however they told me who did the block print but for an estimate they wanted me to remove the backing to measure the actual size seeing that it was matted and framed. Good luck it takes some sluthing. They might even check with a local art gallery. They have to have someone who knows something working there also.
Hope this was of some help.

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

One of my relatives has asked for help identifying a painting, and I have no idea how to go about it. Would anyone have suggestions? I tried to attach a copy of the painting, but it's 1.44 mb - too large to attach.

June,
Send me the picture by email and I'll resize it and attach it to the thread

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Painting

OK, Hasse. I'll send it to you. The mother of the person who has it was the daughter of a German baron and her grandfather was a Prussian baron, so the painting could have come from Germany, Austria, Switzerland area.

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Painting

If you can attach it to a regular email I have had some luck with Museums in other countries. Google a museum in Switzerland or where they think it came from. I had some Japanese Block prints with the paper on the back and didn't want to remove it however they told me who did the block print but for an estimate they wanted me to remove the backing to measure the actual size seeing that it was matted and framed. Good luck it takes some sluthing. They might even check with a local art gallery. They have to have someone who knows something working there also.
Hope this was of some help.

Thanks, Sten. I tried google about identifying a painting and there were over 10 million similar requests from people trying to identify a painting! A relative in Finland knows some artists and he'll see if they have any ideas.

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

The attachment...

...is now in the first message of the thread. (The size of the picture is now 90k instead of the 1.440k...)

Hasse

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Painting

Thanks, Hasse. Someone suggested I contact Maria Enckell in Helsingfors about the painting. So I'll do that. Also a relative in Finland knows an art curator and he has contacted her about it. Hopefully one of them can put me in the right direction. Strange how I've suddenly become involved with families of barons. Have a new e-mail from a relative whose grandfather was the illegitimate son of a baron in Finland. He has been in touch with the "legal" descendants and they are agreeable to a DNA test. That should be interesting.