Now that I have determined the location of the spring near Afton, I'm ready to move on to the mysteries of this painting. Mystery #1: Who painted the picture and when? To me it looks 19th Century. It appears to be a woman and small boy walking on a path through the woods. It looks like she has a bundle of firewood on her back. I have googled every way I can think of to find this painting. It is not "The Wood Gatherers" by Thomas Gainsborough, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Vincent Van Gogh, Henry A. Duessel, Claude Monet, George Arnald, Louis Apol, Frederik Marinus Kruseman nor any of the other artists who have paintings entitled "The Wood Gatherers". Nor is it a painting of "The Path Through (The or A) Forest" by Pierre Auguste Renoir or Joseph Augustus Knip. It is also not "Path Through the Woods" by Paul Cezanne, Camille Jacob Pissarro, Ivan Shishkin or Barend Cornelis Koekkoek. And while I have enjoyed looking through all these possible paintings - even learning of some new-to-me painters - I am no closer to finding this painting. 
Part two of the mystery - Who did this picture belong to and where did it come from? It is a print of a painting - not an oil painting - which is about 16" x 20". The first time I saw it was after Mom died and my brothers and I found it in the closet in her bedroom. Neither of them had any memory of ever seeing it before, either. I immediately fell in love with it and asked if it was okay with them if I took it. (It was.)It is possible it was something Grandma Ridnour had which Mom ended up with after Grandma died. The frame looks like something from the 1920's-30's and is in good shape. It is also possible the picture was in some of the 'treasures' Dad used to bring home from auctions.
There are numerous "brush strokes" in the bottom corners of the picture which almost could be an artist's signature, but which are just not quite legible as such.
I'm going to keep working on this mystery - perhaps one of the cousins remembers seeing it at Grandma Ridnour's? Eventually, I will take the back off to see if there is any writing underneath - but not yet. It can remain a mystery a little longer. Meanwhile I am going to google painting of "Old Woman and Child Walking Through Woods in Springtime". I'll let you know if I get a match.
I tried to find the painting through http://www.tineye.com (which is kinda new image based search) and found nothing, but their database is always growing.
ReplyDeleteI hate to suggest that you haven't looked yet, but have you taken it out of the frame and looked to see of there is anything printed along the edge by the manufacturer?
No, I haven't Ken. I'm planning to, just want to keep the mystery going a little longer. Plus, I don't want the job of putting it back in the frame. Ha! I'll let you know if I find anything when I do take it out.
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