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A family heirloom that I have not been able to identify. Particularly as there must have been 500+ artists in Rotterdam at the time. Guessing late 19th century. Signed R. Van Wense, Rotterdam. Any clues, or suggestion of resources to get some recognition?



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It looks like a ho-hum painting with no ITM content. Why post it here?

Your best chance is looking if the name is included in the 'Lexicon Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars 1750-1950' by Pieter A. Scheen, which is an exhaustive encyclopedic overview of Dutch artists.

s1m0n wrote:It looks like a ho-hum painting with no ITM content. Why post it here?

OTOH, why not post it here? It's the pub. Anything goes. (Apart from what doesn't, obvs. )

Mr.Gumby wrote:Your best chance is looking if the name is included in the 'Lexicon Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars 1750-1950' by Pieter A. Scheen, which is an exhaustive encyclopedic overview of Dutch artists.

Thanks, I'll just see if there's one hanging around here in Los Angeles. Good libraries & college libraries here.

s1m0n wrote:It looks like a ho-hum painting with no ITM content. Why post it here?

So you can object and I can refer you to my 2012 comment about the overbearing 'Irishness' of C&F?

(Sorry for my non-help on the painting, Kevin!)

benhall.1 wrote:

s1m0n wrote:It looks like a ho-hum painting with no ITM content. Why post it here?

OTOH, why not post it here? It's the pub. Anything goes. (Apart from what doesn't, obvs. )

There's no place for structural minds in a Poststructural Pub

kkrell wrote:A family heirloom that I have not been able to identify. Particularly as there must have been 500+ artists in Rotterdam at the time. Guessing late 19th century. Signed R. Van Wense, Rotterdam. Any clues, or suggestion of resources to get some recognition?

Assuming that it is safe to do so (without risk of damaging the frame or painting), have you tried taking the frame off? It seems like that is often a rich source of information as people sometimes slip papers in-behind stuff or there is extra information around the border of the painting. (WARNING: I am in no way a professional. My suggestion is based solely on my reading of the following C&F thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=67360)

Thanks, I'll just see if there's one hanging around here in Los Angeles. Good libraries & college libraries here.

The library of the Getty Museum has a copy : here

Mr.Gumby wrote:

Thanks, I'll just see if there's one hanging around here in Los Angeles. Good libraries & college libraries here.

The library of the Getty Museum has a copy : here

Thanks. Hmmm, Dutch is not one of my languages. Maybe I will instead reach out to an art dept. Unfortunately, my time is very limited at the moment.

If there's an entry in the Scheen lexicon a photocopy of the article would be a good start. A reference librariran may (or may not) do that for you and forward the result. Translating it will be easy enough.

I did a bit of poking around (in a bit of a throwback of a former life) but failed to turn up any reference to R. van Wense, no mention in the deaths, births and marriages at the Rotterdam city archive (Stadsarchief). And nothing from online lists of Dutch artists and places like that.

Mr.Gumby wrote:If there's an entry in the Scheen lexicon a photocopy of the article would be a good start. A reference librariran may (or may not) do that for you and forward the result. Translating it will be easy enough.

I did a bit of poking around (in a bit of a throwback of a former life) but failed to turn up any reference to R. van Wense, no mention in the deaths, births and marriages at the Rotterdam city archive (Stadsarchief). And nothing from online lists of Dutch artists and places like that.

Thanks. Google searching "Van Wense" or anything like it has too many hits to reach any meaningful clarifications.

Sounds like Scheen is organized like the New Langwill Index. berti66 is Dutch (has now moved to York, England) - wish her well.

Los Angeles Public Library only has a 'Lexicon Nederlandse' for literature. I will see if the Getty or UCLA Art Dept. or research library can be of any help.

s1m0n wrote:It looks like a ho-hum painting...

I will be the first to admit that I have little to no knowledge of paintings, and art in general. Maybe I'm hoi-polloi, but I fail to see what makes this painting "ho-hum." At least I have a clear idea of its subject, unlike some of that wildly abstract art.

Mr.Gumby wrote:Your best chance is looking if the name is included in the 'Lexicon Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars 1750-1950' by Pieter A. Scheen, which is an exhaustive encyclopedic overview of Dutch artists.

Nope, not included. They sure are nice people up at the Getty, though. The Lexicon Nederlandse is in the Research Institute building, in the library, reference room (does not have to be called from storage). 2 volumes.

Thanks for the tip, anyway.

You're welcome. As I said, I didn't get anything from a number of the obvious sources and Scheen is a supposedly exhaustive listing. You may well have a very obscure or not rated painter on your hands.

I did come across a few Dutch/Rotterdam art dealers who offered a valuation service, not sure you'd want to go that way but it could be an option.