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« on: Sunday 27 September 20 20:46 BST (UK) »
I know this section is for photos mainly, but I hope maybe there's also some art historians around. This painting was given to my mother, about 1965, by someone ( I'm assuming a family member bt don't know who) in England. She was told it was her grandfather, and therefore my great grandfather, William Leyland Hunter. She had it shipped home to Canada and had it reframed. The painting is oil, and I assumed it was on canvas, but because the surface was hard to the touch, I figured it had been backed to protect it. I've recently come to question whether or not it is William Leyland Hunter who died in 1894 in London or maybe his father who died in 1882.
So, I removed the paper on the back side of the frame to see what was underneath and it appears to be Masonite board, which was commonly used for paintings in the 1930s and 40s ( Masonite having been patented in 1924 in the USA ) If so, then the painting is much newer and brings into question, who the person actually is, and who painted it? I've not removed the painting from the frame at this point, but on close examination of the painted surface, one can detect what looks like canvas weave beneath the paint. There's also a couple of small chips in the painting that seem to reveal a weave under the paint.
William Leyland Hunter died broke at the age of 49 so it's unlikely h'd have commissioned a portrait of himself and the portrait looks like and older gentleman, but men aged more in that era. There's also a possibility that the painting may have been done in the USA by his niece's husband Harry Valentine Shellard. They lived in New York and New Jersey from about 1917 until 1936. The panting could also have been of her father, Edmund Southam Hunter ( one of William Leyland's brothers ) I'll attach a photo of the painting and maybe if I can, a close-up of the chipped part. Any ideas would be appreciated. My goal is to find out if it's truly my great grandfather.