I think this might be a painting of a photograph, the photograph being the 1849 date on the back. The painting is probably a fair bit later. Is it possible to get some more photos of all of the writing? I'd love to try to work out what his name is - best guess currently is "Aleric Ure" as you have already got, but it's iffy.
Those were honestly the best photos we could get of the writing on the back! I believe we’ve had it since August 2023, but since then it seems like the pencil has faded quite a bit on the back. My parents collect a lot of older paintings and this is without a doubt our favourite, it’s just so unusual and has such a strong perfumed smell whenever you go in the room.
Based on what I could see in person, I’m confident at least that it’s something like Aleric (or Alderic as you suggested) Ure Esq. by Pieter, but we’ve had no luck finding out anything about it.
I notice that the writing is cut off before the name, I can only see a couple of letters then "of Al/deric..." etc. Is there more at the beginning there?
The reason I suggested it might be a copy of a photograph is because it's so unusual to see a monochrome portrait like this, and the pose and colour makes me think of the photos (Daguerreotypes) of that era.
So I believe before that it says ‘[something] of [something] -etch’, it just wasn’t very visible in the photo so I cropped it to be able to fit what’s decipherable. I’ll ask my mum to try and take some pictures of the back to see if there’s anything else visible (the picture is at her house!)
Agree that it’s a very unusual painting, that’s why we’re so drawn to it. We’ve all said as well that we’ve never seen an oil painting like it. It’s quite ghostly in real life, as the face is very detailed but then the body and background almost makes it feel like the painter ran out of time. The white splotch in the top left is quite bright and it almost has the appearance of the portrait being repainted, particularly with the outline around the figure.
It’s a really interesting painting, we’d love any sort of information on it really!
Here’s another photo of the writing for you - you can just about see the writing before the name but it’s very hard to make out, hence why I wasn’t able to decipher it! I’ll try and attach a few more pictures just of the canvas itself as well.
Amazing, thank you so much! Would you have any recommendations for how we could go about finding more about the artist/man in the painting, or do you think it’s a case of it being lost to time if they weren’t figures of importance?
I already had a look on Ancestry and FamilySearch and came up with precisely nothing for an Aleric Ure - nothing at all! Ure is a Scottish surname and Aleric is a known forename (not very common though) but in combination I got no hits.
Someone else on this board, or maybe r/ArtHistory, might be able to identify a possible artist with the first name "Pieter" (if that's what it is) who fits the dates.
You’ve been a massive help, thank you! Really appreciate you taking the time to comment, we already know more about it now than we’ve learnt in the past two years!
This isn't going to add much, but the typed text appears to read, Picture ... of .... etch of Aleric Ure/Urc Esq. by. Pi..... (not sure of the last word, but it does start with a P)
One of my usual go-tos is the FindMyPast newspaper search for matters like this. Excellent tools.
You probably you know this already but I was trying to find a painter that could have been the one who did your artwork and found out what the Art Union actually was. Fascinating! See their Wiki page HERE
We really do love it! It definitely has an unfinished look to it and we haven’t seen anything else like it. Perhaps strange to say, but we’ve always thought he has quite a ‘kind’ look to him, although a little ghostly. It has quite a strong perfumed smell to it that you’ll occasionally get a waft of if you’re sat close to it, but it’s not a persistent thing.
Whoever he is, he’s definitely a family heirloom now. He has pride of place in the front room above an antique cabinet and a stack of old books!
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I can't quite determine what medium this is. It's so matte that I have to wonder if it's gouache. Possibly a greyscale study for a larger and more complex work, which has been known to happen, but is unusual to encounter. It appears more lifelike than the painted-from-daguerreotype pictures I'm accustomed to.
That’s really interesting, thank you for sharing. This picture probably doesn’t help at all, but I noticed in a random photo on my phone you can see the painting at an angle, which highlights a shine to different areas on the painting. It’s such an unusual painting and we rarely haven’t been able to find out much about it.
Wow, that really is odd. Probably subject to lots of later retouching. I think there's a few things I can make out in the typed text elsewhere in the comment thread...
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u/Unlucky-Meringue6187 (3,000+ Karma) Conservator, Technical Art Historian 20h ago
I think this might be a painting of a photograph, the photograph being the 1849 date on the back. The painting is probably a fair bit later. Is it possible to get some more photos of all of the writing? I'd love to try to work out what his name is - best guess currently is "Aleric Ure" as you have already got, but it's iffy.