Blacksmith in Art

[Scott NC]

  Here is a painting by Terence Tenison Cuneo.  He painted scenes of blacksmithing, foundry, industry, manufacture, military battle, road construction and more.  He incorporated a small mouse in his paintings after IIRC 1954.  People used to like to search for them.  I wonder if there is one hiding in this one... 

 

 

[Frosty]

That's a good one Scott. You should get a larger screen to view things on, the lad on the right is roasting the mouse on a fork.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  Keep that up and people will think I'm making it up.

[George N. M.]

Does anyone have an idea what the long handled machine behind the boy in the red shirt is?  A tire bender?  A shear of some sort?

GNM

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I was thinking a tire bender, seeing as the blacksmith is making horse shoes, the shop would also do wagon & carriage repairs.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[JHCC]

I’ve seen that kind of geared mechanism on shears and punches. For example, here’s the analogous part on my W. A. Whitney #2:

[Frosty]

Making it up yourself Scott? Are you painting now? 

Looks like a punch to me, I don't think the bottom die is wide enough to be a shear. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

It suddenly occurred to me that I’ve never posted here a photo of the painting that hangs on the wall of my office. This was donated to our art museum a long time ago, but the curators didn’t want it. It spent many years languishing in the basement of our building along with a number of other rejected artwork donations until some planned construction necessitated clearing out the storage space, and we were given our pick of what was there. I grabbed this, and it’s been hanging in my office ever since. 

I haven’t been able to identify the artist, but it’s most likely 19th century European, possibly German. I do like that it combines two of my favorite things: blacksmithing and fiddle music!

[Frosty]

Good save John! There appears to be a signature in the bottom right but it may just be some of the random detail, filler on the ground. I'm wondering about the subject, the fellow standing with his hands behind his back doesn't look happy and that's a lot of spectators and a musician for a non-event. Who brings young children to watch a smith work on a normal day?

There isn't much of a fire in the forge, nor an anvil or other smithing tools. If they were branding an outlaw I'd expect a different crowd and if they were closing his manacles I'd expect an anvil and guards. 

I don't know what's going on or why but I like it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Yes, maybe German but the figure in the middle wearing the knee breeches and cross garters on his calves looks sort of Italian to me.  Maybe Tyrolean?

Art museum curators can have some odd (at least to me) notions about what is worthy "art" and what isn't.  I suppose it isn't just curators.  I have seen things hanging on some folks walls that you would have to pay me a significant amount of money to have on mine and I have seen folk reject things that I find very attractive.

G

[JHCC]

A lot of the time, it’s not necessarily about whether or not a piece is “good”, but about how well it works with the other pieces in the collection. At our museum, we’re having to turn down a LOT of offered donations for the simple reason that we don’t have enough storage space. 

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

There appears to be a signature in the bottom right

There is a signature, but it’s not entirely legible. Certainly not enough to be able to put a name to the artist. 

[Frosty]

He's also wearing more sandals than the low top shoes the others are. Then there is his hat, though I know nothing about hats it sort of makes me think Tyrolean sort of. 

What about the fellow sitting in the lower right with the basket of . . . things that look like cloves of garlic? Is he selling nibbles for the event everybody is gathered to watch?

I dipped my toes in the Torc rabbit hole and watched a few "Curator's Corner" videos from The British Museum. The lady was discussing the Snettisham great torc, first pic in the link about torcs. She described how gold was poured into a bar then forged longer and longer until it was the wire in the torc from the hoard. Of course NOBODY knows how it was made, then she goes on to describe what she imagines it took to cast the ornately decorated ring ends onto the twisted wire body and the collars between were to hide the join. 

HAMMERED more than 200' of wire to precise dimension to make the 64 strands in the yarns in the "rope" main body! 

It illustrates my amazement at how many museum curators guess at things they have no grounding in rather than ask someone who does it every day. How many gold smiths would she have had to ask to learn about drawing wire? 

I tend to snoop around museums for blacksmithing or metalworking displays and offer advice for their displays if it falls in one of my areas. When the curator was interested, large museums often require college degrees to have an expert opinion.

Drats drifted into a rant anyway. Sorry gang.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

 

[George N. M.]

John, if there is ever going to be an Antiques Roadshow in your area you might take it in.  Martha and I went to one in Denver some years ago and had a marvelous time but there was a LOT of standing.  Good idea to take a camp stool or something similar.  One of the things I took was a large mountain landscape oil painting that I bought at an auction for $5.  The appraiser wasn't able to ID the artist but she said that given it's size and quality it was probably worth $1200-1500.  She also refered me to the Denver Art Museum for further research and ID which I have never done yet.

G

[JHCC]

Speaking of Antiques Roadshow, here’s a friend of mine on AR sharing an incredible story about her father:

https://youtu.be/z4NGYaYaCYo?t=1233

[George N. M.]

John, all I got was a message saying the video was private.  Do you have any search terms to try to find it through You Tube's search function?

G

[JHCC]

That’s odd; it didn’t use to be. Let me see what I can find. 

[JHCC]

Okay, it's taking too long to hunt down, so I'll tell the story here. My friend went to the AR event in Boise, Idaho with a box of her father's WWII memorabilia, including his (quite rare, as it turns out) unit patch as a member of the Dutch special forces. She was talking to one of the volunteers as they were waiting in line and explained that he had parachuted into Holland with Gen. Gavin and the 101st Airborne as part of Operation Market Garden. The volunteer looked at her skeptically, as apparently a lot of people claim to have parachuted with Gen. Gavin when they had only the most tenuous connecting with the operation. She insisted that No, he really had, and in fact had saved Gen. Gavin's life by shooting a German sniper out of a tree just as he had his shot lined up. The volunteer looked shocked and said, "Wait a minute. Was your father Arie Bestebreurtje?!?" It turns out that he was Gen. Gavin's grandson and had heard stories about her father all his life!

They told this story to the appraiser at the table, and the story did make it to air. They had to cut a lot of it, though, as the appraiser got it in his head that if it hadn't been for her father's action, the volunteer would never have been alive. This wasn't true, as his parent had already been born by the time of the war. I can't remember what value they put on the insignia, but it was apparently something of a holy grail for WWII militaria collectors, given the small number of people who'd worn it and the important role it had played in Operations Jedburgh and Market Garden.

[Frosty]

What a story John! Why did she give up a family heirloom like that, did she say?

I only have a couple things of my parents and one from each Grandfather. They never knew each other, even remotely but both gold watches are virtually identical, they even have the same cloth bag with draw string. They were bought probably 40 years apart, one well after my paternal grandfather had passed a victim of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. I've looked them over closely and there's no way to tell witch was who's. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[JHCC]

She didn't give it up; AR just gives people an appraisal of how much they think it would sell for on the open market or how much it should be insured for. She still has it and is keeping it safe.

On a side note -- but still related -- I met this person originally in my professional capacity, as she's a member of the college art museum's volunteer board and a noted art collector. She does not have, so far as I know, any smithing-related paintings, but she does have a couple of forged kitchen stools by a smith whose name I can't remember but who was featured in "The Anvil's Ring" a few years back.

[George N. M.]

I don't think the story said that she sold the patch, etc..  Antique Roadshow gives you a value, no more, no less.  Then you can decide to keep it, sell it, increase or decrease your insurance coverage, etc..  In fact, it is an ethical violation/conflict of interest for an appraiser to offer to purchase an item they have valued.

Many folk, probably John's friend included, say that it will never be sold but kept in the family.  Occasionally, there is a follow up about someone who sells something for a life changing amount of money.

One thing that is interesting when watching both the American and British versions of the show is the difference in reactions when the owner is told that an item is worth a large and unexpected amount of money.  The British are often sterotypically phlegmatic and say, "Oh, that's nice."  Americans are often more histrionic and stagger back stunned.  It isn't always that way but you do tend to see a lower key response amongst the Brits.

[Frosty]

I remember now, I haven't watched ARS in a couple years. PBS lost us when they went commercial. It was a place to take things to be appraised there was an episode up here, it was fun seeing so many familiar faces.

We're typing at the same time again George. My memory is coming back about the show, a reminder or two was all I needed.

Thanks all.

How's the weather? Sunny and heading for high 30 - low 40s here.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[George N. M.]

I watch AR, partiucularly the UK version, on Britbox.  IIRC, you can also find episodes of bothe the US and UK versions on You Tube.

G

[JHCC]

We were very lucky with the weather today. April in Ohio is famously unpredictable, but we had almost entirely clear skies for the total eclipse this afternoon.

1 hour ago, George N. M. said:

In fact, it is an ethical violation/conflict of interest for an appraiser to offer to purchase an item they have valued.

It gets even more complicated when you're dealing with donating an artwork or other object of value to a museum or other charity. Both IRS regulations and our museum's code of ethics discuss this at great length.

(On a related note, we did our tax returns on Saturday, and once again, I have not been able to claim a tax deduction for whaling expenses under Internal Revenue Code § 170(n). Maybe next year.)

[Nobody Special]

Well, not to go full-UPL, but unless you're contributing to sanctioned Native Alaskan subsistence bowhead whaling, which seems unlikely in Ohio, you might consider trying under the special case considerations from 26 U.S.C Section 170, subsection f, i.e. materials for research purposes, foods, or if you're really feeling your Wheaties, the taxidermy exemption. Depends on how you frame it and what support documentation you can provide. Honestly, I'm surprised they still call it the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission; the name is offensive as hell.

[George N. M.]

How about if you are hand forging harpoons (razors are the best material per Capt. Ahab), flensing irons, etc.?  I doubt there is much market in Ohio but you can ship (pun intended).

G