Who is the Dutch artist?

[Greensleeves]

Hi Ruskie and Viktoria and Mike and Keith and Kay!

The painting is an original watercolour and it was bought about 50 years ago from a fine art restorer who restored old oil paintings for a living.   My family knew him and we used to be fascinated by his stories of how he would remove the varnish from old paintings which then leaves the original painting dry and flaking; and so his restoration work involved working on a canvas of loose paint flakes.  Sounds terrifying!

Anyway he had the painting I now have and my father took a liking to it and bought it.  I don't think he paid a lot of money for it; the restorer told him at the time that the painter's work was becoming collectable.  And that's all I know other than that he told my father it was Dutch school.  The painting is on what looks like thick paper the back of which is quite brown though not sure if that's age or if it started out like that.

I have puzzled about that signature.  I will have to find my magnifying glass and see if I can deduce any more from it.  I haven't damaged the picture by taking it out of the frame - although my heart was in my mouth whilst doing it!

Regards and thanks so much to you all for your interest

GS

[Kay99]

I have to out now but wonder whether this list may be any use  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dutch_painters

Kay

[despair]

In trying to eliminate the "background signature" I produced the false image below.Could the name be
"Jühl"? or "Eühl"?


Regards
Roger

[Treetotal]

I thought it look like the artist had originally used the initials CL...then over-written by a signature. I have tried a google image match on both the painting and the signature and come up empty 
It reminds me of work by Van Gogh, not in painting style but in colour and composition....maybe because he painted haystacks 
Carol

[Greensleeves]

Ah Carol, if only it turned out to be an early Van Gough....   

Thanks so much for that image, Roger - will go off googling to follow up your suggestions.

[McGroger]

Following up on Victoria’s suggestion re J(oh)an(n) Suhl. If you google (Images) for “Jan Suhl painter” you can bring up images of the paintings which Victoria found had been sold (so no longer showing on the auction website).

I’ve pasted a snip of one of those paintings, highlighting the signature and superimposing Greensleeves’s slip for comparison. While the S and slope are different, otherwise they are suspiciously familiar. To me (but I'm not an artist) the painting style is not that close, although the use of colours and composition are perhaps relatable.

I think it’s possible it could the same artist, perhaps at a different time period, and/or perhaps the “restoration” has altered the look of it: as Greensleeves says, “and so his restoration work involved working on a canvas of loose paint flakes”.

Hope this helps.
Peter

[Greensleeves]

Gosh Peter and Viktoria  - thanks so much; the last piece of the signature certainly looks incredibly similar.  How exciting - I've googled Jan Suhl and I agree that the styles of the paintings don't look particularly similar to the one I have.  But I paint and I use different styles for different subjects so who knows?  I have no idea where to go from here since all the fine art sites I've tried only seem interested in divesting me of large sums of money in return for an appraisal.  Since they are charging something like £30 a day for the privilege of 'membership' I reckon I could quickly be paying out more than the piece is worth     Maybe I'll see about sidling into one of the 'fine art' dealers in my area to see if they'd be interested in looking at the piece without charging a small fortune.

Regards
GS 

[KGarrad]

You need something like "Antiques Roadshow"

[roopat]

Gosh Peter and Viktoria  - thanks so much; the last piece of the signature certainly looks incredibly similar.  How exciting - I've googled Jan Suhl and I agree that the styles of the paintings don't look particularly similar to the one I have.  But I paint and I use different styles for different subjects so who knows?  I have no idea where to go from here since all the fine art sites I've tried only seem interested in divesting me of large sums of money in return for an appraisal.  Since they are charging something like £30 a day for the privilege of 'membership' I reckon I could quickly be paying out more than the piece is worth     Maybe I'll see about sidling into one of the 'fine art' dealers in my area to see if they'd be interested in looking at the piece without charging a small fortune.

Regards
GS 

Such an interesting thread!
Re valuation -
I have an interesting item & took it to a local auction house (in Canterbury) which offers free valuations on Friday mornings. What they told me piqued my interest so I looked at Sothebys online & they say they do free valuations too if you send a photo & details of the item. I haven't got round to it yet but you could try it.


Good luck


Pat