Q & A

R.K. of Anglemont, B.C. writes:

I have attached a picture of very old paintings that were handed down to me from my mother before she died. This is all the information that I can tell you:

The paintings were hanging in my house when I was only 1 years old; I am now 47 years of age. My mother remembers seeing them hung in her home in Toronto when she was a little girl, my mother would have been 80 years old now. I am sure that they were handed down by my mother’s parents.

The painter’s name is W .Brandt; I believe he is dead now, I think. I looked on the back of the painting and there is a tag in which the name of the company who framed the painting. Mackenzie & Co. (Matthews Art Gallery), the year is very faded but it looks like to me it is 1861 or 1881 or 1961. The number #3379, 3390 also appears.

That is all I can tell you. I would like an appraised value for insurance reasons and if it were to be sold at an auction or private. I know it is hard without seeing the paintings. I will await your response hopefully.

We asked Ian Lumsden to respond:

My research on W. Brandt in the standard art dictionaries has failed to shed any light on this particular artist. From the photographs, I believe that he/she is an inspired amateur working at the beginning of the 20th century in the Dutch genre idiom and emulating such artists as de Hoog and Wouters who made successful careers out of painting these domestic interiors. As such I would give the pair an insurance valuation of $600 to $800 based upon the photographic evidence that you have furnished.