Anybody knowledge about antique oil paintings? Worth restoring?

[Chrislondo-London]

Hi to all. I'm a working professional and in the weekend I'm a hobby wannabe antique collector.
Like everybody I also hope to found a good painting of a desirable artist.  











I bought this painting A couple of weeks here in the UK and didn't looked at it in till today.  It had a modern frame so I took it out for examination. I could not find a signature on it but the painting is clearly old as you can see the cracks of age in the oil paint, so this means that its clearly older than the frame it sat in.   I would like to approx. date it and maybe the artist?? (I know its a long shot but maybe the style can tell you something)
I'm also interested in the meaning, subject, message of this painting.

You can see a family with their dog walking or traveling on a open pad trough the woods. If you also look closer you can see two other figures on the right hand side of the painting. You wouldnt see this in the beginning if you dint look twice. The two figures are dresses in black, maybe a man and woman and it looks like they are hiding in the shadow of the woods.
Does this got to do something with good and bad? I dont know.

You can see that the canvas is kept together with different hand forced nails.
This gives me the impression its was painted in the 19th century, but when I had a closer look I could see that its not painted on the canvas that surrounds the framework, It is painted on canvas and this piece of canvas is cleud on the canvas aso around the frame, does this means it could be earlier? maybe 18th century?

I know its all about details so I have in this link below more detailed pictures
hope It will put light on this case.
Many thank in advance.
http://jpegbay.com/gallery/004200482-.html#1

[mart]

Hi there and welcome to the group !!  You picked a good one as far as the painting goes but with major problems !! You mean the original canvas was cut from the stretcher frame and re-glued to another canvas ??  Must have had the signature trimmed off !!
You would almost have to get someone there to look at it !! I can say it is in the style of several 19th and early 20th century genre artists from the UK !! But in the condition it is in would have to be a really good artist to be worth the restoration which isn`t cheap !!  As far as some deep meaning,, no, genre/landscape artists painted what was around them in daily life !! It was more likely that the scene just caught his eye so he put it on canvas !!

[nj-antiques.com]

Nice painting, but before proceeding with restoration, I would spend good amount of time researching the painting.  As Mart pointed out this may not be financially feasible.  However, I think this painting may be earlier than XIX century. 

[Ipcress]

Damn shame because it looks like a good one, a couple of hundred years old, like one of Gainsborough's landscapes
It will need to be something like that to make the restoration worth while !

Nice WWII RAF uniform in the pics link !

[Chrislondo-London]

Thank you all for your time.

Yes Mart that's correct the original canvas was cut from the stretcher frame and re-glued to another canvas. So the painting could be older than the frame if I'm correct. Don't hope they cut out the signature but you must be really a i***t to do that but you never know. Many artist didnt signed there works.

Thank you ipcress, didn't know you could also see my other pictures. Yes I love my uniforms, I have a fairly nice collection of RAF memorblia. I'm really proud of it. The uniform you've seen is still in superB condition and is fairly rare. Is a Mess Dress and if you look closely you can see that it has no pockets below the belt. Seems that I can't find the same one neither my fellow RAF collectors.  

Back to the painting. Because I didn't see the two other people in the beginning, i started to suspect that there maybe some other hidden things are that I overseen and I think I found something.

Looks like it is signed in the tree on the right hand side in black paint but this is very fade. Looks like it reads Grays or Crays or something like that??? doesn't look like branches because the hole tree is painted in greenish paint and that's the only black in the three and. Looks like straight lines were used and it has signs of the alphabet .
But I could be wrong because I want to find a signature :-)

[mart]

Pretty sure that is part of the painting !!  Best thing to do is take it to a good gallery in the UK and have them look at the painting !! Its quite nice work and always worth a shot to check with someone that can do a hands on look !!

[KC]

Nice saving!  Even if it doesn't turn out to be from a world famous artist, I still like the piece! 

Dagnabbit, wish I could see the "figures in the woods".  Not uncommon for artists to put hidden "keys" or meanings in their pieces!

I agree that you need someone to have a "close up" inspection of the piece.  I suspect it is older as well!

[Ipcress]

Hi Chris - yeah, i agree with the others that it's not a signature in the tree

And the " pocketless " uniform is the 1947 pattern which wasn't issued for long. Probably a replacement uniform with the airman's ribbon bar and wings on it.

[awhitetriangle]

the stretchers to me look older than the back of the canvas, later ones would have been mitred at the corners. so it may well be a more recent canvas attached to an older one. if so have you checked the edges where the canvas folds over the stretcher for a signature? you can start cleaning the painting yourself fairly easily. get a cotton bud, wet it in your mouth, (human saliva contains enzymes that will remove the dirt and not harm  the paint itself) work on a small area at a time using a circular motion. when the cotton bud/q tip is dirty start again, don't put the dirty one back in your mouth lol, might not taste too nice!

[mart]

That's true but it would be easier just to buy the cleaner from an art supply store !!  Your mouth goes dry pretty fast unless you lick on a lemon in between !!

[awhitetriangle]

lol never thought of licking a lemon mart!!!

[mart]

LOL !!  I got real smart once and thought I would try that to clean one !!  By the time I got about a 6 inch square done had a good case of dry mouth and a pile of Q-tips !!  The lemon will make your mouth water but still not enough to do much more on the painting !!  Since the painting was mine I switched to a pint of water, a shot of Murphy`s oil soap and a soft cotton terry cloth !! Worked just as well !!

[awhitetriangle]

  not sure the acid in the lemon would be the best either, being an artist i've had to restore a fair number of paintings over the years, but totally agree mart a few shots of something def. helps the process along!!!

[mart]

Yes, and not necessarily Murphy`s Oil Soap !!