Hello,

The 18 x 26 inch oil painting depicted in the attachment came out of an estate sale in California. The deceased family had brought the painting over from France early last century. It is signed COIGNARD and then what looks like 1 69 (missing digit in the 2nd position!). I have been unable to find any informatioon on the artist..

Would anyone here, from the clothing or painting style, be willing to take a qualified guess on that second digit (I'm thinking 5 or 6).

The paint has crackled considerably , but apparently was restored and re-lined decades ago, perhaps back in France.

Thanks for any insight!

Uffe Hellsten,
Alameda, California

From the clothing I tend to think this would be a 6 and not a 5. Look at the lace on the man's shirt. Also his boots make me think of 6 and not 5 as well. It's a lovely painting.

Thank you Twinkie!

Hi, uhellsten!

You say "what looks like 1 69", but I'm not sure where those are located on the image that you have provided. Would you mind letting me know where they are?

Thanks!

Hi Clough,

Thank you for your interest! The name and digits are in black at the low right corner, but the font is quite small, the painting is worn, and the contrast is bad. The light needs to come from a particular angle for me to see it, and it helps to use a loupe. I tried snapping a close-up photo of the area with my camara in macro mode, but I need a better lighting and tripod set-up to get something useful. I can't get you anything visual to interpret at this time.

The name COIGNARD in all capital letters is legible without a doubt, the digits are to the right of the name and are more ambiguous... I suppose it could also be 169. (i.e. with the last digit missing), but in that case the artist would have left quite a large space between the 1 and 6 given the size of the font and the typical distance between the digits.

Uffe

Hi! There are at least three French painters with the last name Coignard. Check out a site called: artistsearch.com. They do not charge for simple searches, but will charge if you want more info. Write down the names you find on their list. Then go to Google and put in one of the names adding pictures or photographs of work. Many times you can identify the artist's work from sites that are galleries or museums showing their works. It takes a little time but I have been able to identify several artworks in this way. Good luck. It's a very nice looking painting.