Bit of a long shot - anyone ID an Artist?
Discussion
Hi Guys,
Bit of a long shot here, but I had this painting left to me by my grandmother. No idea who painted it, or where the landscape is, other than that it is Scottish.
Looks like the signature is possibly "M. MacDonald" with a year of 1902?
I doubt it will be worth anything, and wouldn't sell it if it was. I just like the scene, and wanted to know a little more about it.
The label on the back of the frame is quite nice, I love the phone number of the gallery (top left)...
I guess it's likely just a novices work?
I am tempted to remove it from the frame, and see if there's anything on the back of it, though I would worry about damaging it.
Really no idea about it, or where to ask. The frame is quite badly damaged too.
Actually, looking again, I'm not even sure if the signature is M MacDonald? It's rather difficult to distinguish.
Bit of a long shot here, but I had this painting left to me by my grandmother. No idea who painted it, or where the landscape is, other than that it is Scottish.
Looks like the signature is possibly "M. MacDonald" with a year of 1902?
I doubt it will be worth anything, and wouldn't sell it if it was. I just like the scene, and wanted to know a little more about it.
The label on the back of the frame is quite nice, I love the phone number of the gallery (top left)...
I guess it's likely just a novices work?
I am tempted to remove it from the frame, and see if there's anything on the back of it, though I would worry about damaging it.
Really no idea about it, or where to ask. The frame is quite badly damaged too.
Actually, looking again, I'm not even sure if the signature is M MacDonald? It's rather difficult to distinguish.
Try a free appraisal at Bonhams:
http://www.bonhams.com/how_to_sell/9882/
No cost, and you get to engage with an art expert. It's in their interest to be value correctly.
http://www.bonhams.com/how_to_sell/9882/
No cost, and you get to engage with an art expert. It's in their interest to be value correctly.
Three leads there: Doic, wilson and the bloke from Morse. Have you googled them?
Call Edinburgh 247 and ask for them
They have a royal warrant. So phone the king and ask him..
Honestly, people these days want us to do all the work for them...
Call Edinburgh 247 and ask for them
They have a royal warrant. So phone the king and ask him..
Honestly, people these days want us to do all the work for them...
Astacus said:
Possibly Malcolm (mara) macdonald a Lewis artist active at turn of century
This seems a good lead. No doubt a bit of digging will get the artist sorted, but here's some info lifted wholesale from the National Portrait Gallery regarding the framemaker 
NPG said:
Doig, McKechnie & Davies 1857-1884, Doig & McKechnie 1885-1895, Doig, Wilson & Wheatley 1895-1957. At 60 George St, Edinburgh 1857, 69 George St 1857-1861, 89 George St 1862-1875, 90 George St 1876-1957. Picture dealers, carvers and gilders, picture restorers and printsellers.
This leading Edinburgh business claimed to have been established in 1840 (The Scotsman 16 December 1912). Henry Doig (1818-1901) was a partner in the firm of Doig, McKechnie & Davies, carvers, gilders and plate glass merchants, which was formed from three separate businesses. Henry Doig, carver and gilder at 6 South St James’s St, joined with McKechnie & Davies, 69 George St and 10 Calton Hill, to form Doig, McKechnie & Davies, listed as carvers, gilders and picture liners at 69 George St and 10 Calton Hill in 1857. William McKechnie can be found as a picture framemaker at 10 Calton Hill in 1855. In 1875 Doig, McKechnie & Davies advertised a sale of surplus stock prior to removal to new premises at 90 George St (The Scotsman 14 December 1875). Henry Doig and William McKechnie, trading as Doig & McKechnie from 1885, received an appointment as picture restorers, printsellers and publishers to Queen Victoria in Edinburgh in 1889 (National Archives, LC 5/246 p.179).
Henry Doig, son of James Doig, was born in 1818 at Callander near Stirling. He was a mature student at the Trustees’ Academy for design in Edinburgh, 1845-9, to which he was admitted on the recommendation of the architect, James Gillespie Graham (National Archives of Scotland, NG 2/1/4, information from Helen Smailes). Doig can be traced in most Edinburgh censuses. In 1841 he was listed at 4 Little King St as a journeyman carver and gilder, in 1861 at 12 Queen St, as a carver and gilder, age 43, employing 18 men, 11 boys and one clerk, in 1871 at Duddingstone, as a carver and gilder, age 58, in 1881 at 90a George St, in 1891 at Portobello, as a picture restorer, age 73, widowed, and in 1901 at Portobello as a carver and gilder, age 83, by now remarried, with two great grandsons in the household, Henry and Laurence Brown, ages 20 and 17, the one apprenticed as a lithographic artist, the other as a carver and gilder.
Sole partner by 1895, Doig dissolved the firm of Doig & McKechnie, selling his stock-in-trade to Thomas Wilson and Benjamin Wheatley, who proceded to trade as Doig, Wilson & Wheatley, fine art dealers (Edinburgh Gazette 3 May 1895). The royal appointment to Queen Victoria was renewed in 1895 to Benjamin Abercromby Wheatley, Thomas Wilson and Henry Doig, trading as Doig, Wilson & Wheatley (National Archives, LC 5/246 p.273). The new partnership advertised as picture restorers, printsellers and publishers (The Scotsman 29 May 1895), also referring to ‘All Varieties of Designs in Framing’, and mentioning the removal of Wilson from 121 to 90 George St. The following month the business advertised the sale of surplus stock owing to the amalgamation of the two firms (The Scotsman 26 June 1895), with a further auction being held at the end of the year, of ‘the surplus stock of the firms of Messrs Doig & M’Kechnie and Mr Thomas Wilson’ (The Scotsman 20 November 1895). In 1897 the business opened a branch establishment at 26 Forrest Road (The Scotsman 26 July 1897).
Thomas Wilson, printseller, carver, gilder, framer and restorer, advertised his gallery at 121 George St in 1885 as ‘the largest in Edinburgh’, selling oil paintings and watercolours, claiming to have been established in 1840 (The Year’s Art, 1885-86). Benjamin Wheatley appears in the 1901 census as a fine art dealer, age 36, born in Edinburgh. The 20th-century history of the business as art dealers is not traced here.
Framing and restoration work: Henry Doig acted as Sir Joseph Noel Paton's framemaker, colourman and dealer, as is apparent from the artist’s journals (Noel-Paton 1990 pp.79, 116). The extent of Doig’s involvement is clear from entries concerning the painting, The Good Shepherd, 1876 (ex-coll. Haydon Hare), for which he not only supplied materials and framed the finished work but dealt with the sale and exhibition of the work, and acted as an intermediary with Queen Victoria who wished to have a replica (Noel-Paton 1990 pp.38-40, 98-9). The Queen went on to commission an altarpiece for Osbourne, 1884-5, with framing designed by the artist and made by Doig (the altarpiece now belongs to Anmer parish church). Doig also framed Noel Paton’s Sir Galahad, 1879 (Christie’s 11 June 1993 lot 132; repr. Noel-Paton 1990 pl.1).
Doig, McKechnie and Davies cleaned and restored 31 portraits of continental kings, princes and leaders, in the Lothian collection in 1882 (National Archives of Scotland, GD40/8/459, Lothian Muniments).
Doig, Wilson & Wheatley's label, whether as framemaker or as dealer, can be found on the plain gilt oak moulding frame on Count Girolamo Nerli’s Robert Louis Stevenson, 1892 (Scottish National Portrait Gallery). The business advertised as picture restorers, printsellers and publishers to His Majesty in 1912: ‘Pictures examined, reported on, lined and restored. Collections valued, arranged and hung… Artistic Framing…’ (Royal Scottish Academy, exh.cat., 1912). It continued to advertise 'artistic framing' (The Year’s Art 1928).
This leading Edinburgh business claimed to have been established in 1840 (The Scotsman 16 December 1912). Henry Doig (1818-1901) was a partner in the firm of Doig, McKechnie & Davies, carvers, gilders and plate glass merchants, which was formed from three separate businesses. Henry Doig, carver and gilder at 6 South St James’s St, joined with McKechnie & Davies, 69 George St and 10 Calton Hill, to form Doig, McKechnie & Davies, listed as carvers, gilders and picture liners at 69 George St and 10 Calton Hill in 1857. William McKechnie can be found as a picture framemaker at 10 Calton Hill in 1855. In 1875 Doig, McKechnie & Davies advertised a sale of surplus stock prior to removal to new premises at 90 George St (The Scotsman 14 December 1875). Henry Doig and William McKechnie, trading as Doig & McKechnie from 1885, received an appointment as picture restorers, printsellers and publishers to Queen Victoria in Edinburgh in 1889 (National Archives, LC 5/246 p.179).
Henry Doig, son of James Doig, was born in 1818 at Callander near Stirling. He was a mature student at the Trustees’ Academy for design in Edinburgh, 1845-9, to which he was admitted on the recommendation of the architect, James Gillespie Graham (National Archives of Scotland, NG 2/1/4, information from Helen Smailes). Doig can be traced in most Edinburgh censuses. In 1841 he was listed at 4 Little King St as a journeyman carver and gilder, in 1861 at 12 Queen St, as a carver and gilder, age 43, employing 18 men, 11 boys and one clerk, in 1871 at Duddingstone, as a carver and gilder, age 58, in 1881 at 90a George St, in 1891 at Portobello, as a picture restorer, age 73, widowed, and in 1901 at Portobello as a carver and gilder, age 83, by now remarried, with two great grandsons in the household, Henry and Laurence Brown, ages 20 and 17, the one apprenticed as a lithographic artist, the other as a carver and gilder.
Sole partner by 1895, Doig dissolved the firm of Doig & McKechnie, selling his stock-in-trade to Thomas Wilson and Benjamin Wheatley, who proceded to trade as Doig, Wilson & Wheatley, fine art dealers (Edinburgh Gazette 3 May 1895). The royal appointment to Queen Victoria was renewed in 1895 to Benjamin Abercromby Wheatley, Thomas Wilson and Henry Doig, trading as Doig, Wilson & Wheatley (National Archives, LC 5/246 p.273). The new partnership advertised as picture restorers, printsellers and publishers (The Scotsman 29 May 1895), also referring to ‘All Varieties of Designs in Framing’, and mentioning the removal of Wilson from 121 to 90 George St. The following month the business advertised the sale of surplus stock owing to the amalgamation of the two firms (The Scotsman 26 June 1895), with a further auction being held at the end of the year, of ‘the surplus stock of the firms of Messrs Doig & M’Kechnie and Mr Thomas Wilson’ (The Scotsman 20 November 1895). In 1897 the business opened a branch establishment at 26 Forrest Road (The Scotsman 26 July 1897).
Thomas Wilson, printseller, carver, gilder, framer and restorer, advertised his gallery at 121 George St in 1885 as ‘the largest in Edinburgh’, selling oil paintings and watercolours, claiming to have been established in 1840 (The Year’s Art, 1885-86). Benjamin Wheatley appears in the 1901 census as a fine art dealer, age 36, born in Edinburgh. The 20th-century history of the business as art dealers is not traced here.
Framing and restoration work: Henry Doig acted as Sir Joseph Noel Paton's framemaker, colourman and dealer, as is apparent from the artist’s journals (Noel-Paton 1990 pp.79, 116). The extent of Doig’s involvement is clear from entries concerning the painting, The Good Shepherd, 1876 (ex-coll. Haydon Hare), for which he not only supplied materials and framed the finished work but dealt with the sale and exhibition of the work, and acted as an intermediary with Queen Victoria who wished to have a replica (Noel-Paton 1990 pp.38-40, 98-9). The Queen went on to commission an altarpiece for Osbourne, 1884-5, with framing designed by the artist and made by Doig (the altarpiece now belongs to Anmer parish church). Doig also framed Noel Paton’s Sir Galahad, 1879 (Christie’s 11 June 1993 lot 132; repr. Noel-Paton 1990 pl.1).
Doig, McKechnie and Davies cleaned and restored 31 portraits of continental kings, princes and leaders, in the Lothian collection in 1882 (National Archives of Scotland, GD40/8/459, Lothian Muniments).
Doig, Wilson & Wheatley's label, whether as framemaker or as dealer, can be found on the plain gilt oak moulding frame on Count Girolamo Nerli’s Robert Louis Stevenson, 1892 (Scottish National Portrait Gallery). The business advertised as picture restorers, printsellers and publishers to His Majesty in 1912: ‘Pictures examined, reported on, lined and restored. Collections valued, arranged and hung… Artistic Framing…’ (Royal Scottish Academy, exh.cat., 1912). It continued to advertise 'artistic framing' (The Year’s Art 1928).
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