Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
Mystery Boy Oil Painting
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Showing page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2
Message
Posted
I have a beautiful oil portrait of a young boy in its original frame. The entire piece measures approximately 19” x 20.5”.
The artist’s name appears to be Chelminski, and beneath the signature, it looks like it says “Munich.”
According to family history, a great-great-aunt told us that the painting had once been displayed in Old North Church during the American Revolutionary War period around 1775. Old North Church is an Episcopal mission church in Boston's North End, Massachusetts, originally built in 1723.
We were also told that the painting was at one time displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Unfortunately, there are no records to confirm this because the documents were reportedly destroyed in a fire many years ago. There was once a museum label on the back of the painting.
The painting has been in my family for many years. It was in my parents’ home while I was growing up, and I now have it in my home. I’m 61 years old and have admired this painting since I was a child.
If anyone can share any information about the artist or the painting, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you for any help.
Scott
Posted
A very quick google search came up with this:
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/jan-chelminski
Which seems to fit your story, Scott, but sadly not the dates. This Chelminski has a wiki page pointing to an archive of works.
Edited
by Norrette Moore
Posted
But this time, it hasn't. There's nothing, other than very broadly similar images of boys, showing up on Google Search; it tells us it's probably an 18th century portrait, but we didn't need AI to tell us that. I don't think it looks like Chelminski's work, or at least that of it which I've seen - but who knows? You're going to need better detectives than we (or I, anyway) can offer to investigate this: I don't suppose there's anything on the back, other than the label which is now missing?
Posted
Scott, I looked up the church on wikipedia again. There were at least two churches of that name - one called the second church - its worth looking up that entry. The Massachusetts Historical society has a large archive from both churches, there may well be inventories among the archives.
The stories about the church involve the Paul Revere ride. We have a tv program in the UK about researching pictures, called Fake or Fortune on BBC it might be worth contacting them, as their research would an interesting story for TV. There is another program featuring Dr Bendor Grosvenor although he focuses on British pictures. He can be found on Twitter, I've messaged him.
The wiki for the second church, discusses the baptisms of freed slave children, or those of mixed race. Could the painting be one such? I think it would odd for a painting of a child to be displayed in a church.
Edited
by Norrette Moore
Posted
Plainly not a Greuze, but Norrette has opened a very interesting door - I hope it leads somewhere, and we'd all be interested if you could delve through it and come up with an answer - which is more likely to be found through US records than anything in Europe, I think. But who knows - and that's more than half the fun in trying to trace attributions.
Posted
I agree about the Greuze, Robert. The same hair and clothing.
Greuze's painting of Benjamin Franklin is dated 1777, although Franklin returned to the US two years earlier. Franklin's wiki page gives the impression he was painted in fancy silks whilst in Europe but in plain fabrics when back home. So perhaps that portrait was started a couple of years prior in Europe - there isn't a record of Greuze crossing the Atlantic. Franklin was a Boston man and initial slave owner who became abolitionist later.
However, for a childs portrait to hang in a church, it must be of some importance.
Posted
Aha. A search for Franklin and Old North, brings up this article about Jane Franklin Mecom, Benjamin's sister.
It's possible he brought the Greuze portrait back with him, in 1775, and it was copied later on *his* trip to the US, by Chelminski. Edit: no its more likely the other way around as the Greuze is dated 1790.
https://www.oldnorth.com/blog/the-women-of-old-north-church/
Edited
by Norrette Moore
Showing page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2