Continental European after 1800, Dress and Textiles 19 Who painted 'Street Scene, Paris'?

Street Scene, Paris
Topic: Artist

This painting is signed bottom right. Could it be 'T ... doo'?

The collection's curator has commented: 'I’ve taken some pictures of the painting – the pencil writing on the back and the signature are not very legible but the pencil writing says Ingham Collection (presumably written by the museum on receipt of the painting) – we have a small collection of paintings that were bequeathed by Thomas Ingham in 1936 and they are all French views or French artists (except for 1).'

[Group leader: Frances Fowle]

Martin Hopkinson, Entry reviewed by Art UK

2 attachments

19 comments

Kieran Owens,

Please forgive me Marcie, but, based on the supplied signature as compared to those clearly available for the artist on the Art UK site, along with your own statement that you can't find one of his paintings with a similar signature, and all quite apart from the lack of any similarity of style, how could this possibly be by Alexander Jamieson?

Exasperating wild guesses only serve to further alienate me, and possibly other well-intentioned contributors, from engaging with the Art Detective service in any enthusiastic or meaningful way. As has been mentioned many times before, suggestions or speculations should ideally only be made where there is at least some morsel or shred of credibility based on properly-researched evidence or expert insight. Otherwise this whole process descends into a tedious chasing after improbable red herrings, and becomes a waste of time that is increasingly in short supply as we all inexorably proceed towards the grave.

The Collection refers to the small collection of paintings bequeathed by Ingham in 1936; in so far as catalogued on Art UK, here is a search result listing of the 11 of them https://bit.ly/3vQzShp However, I might have to look a bit more later as the accession numbers cover 325 to 342 here, and 330, 337-340 are missing

Marcie Doran,

Sometimes one must think outside the box, Kieran. It is a small painting and might be dedicated to the owner, like perhaps accession number 329. The writing might be “To Thomas”.

Osmund Bullock,

Thinking outside the box is fine, Marcie, but is usually best done when you've exhausted the more likely possibilities inside it: to me it looks much more like a signature than a dedication.

But even if it were the latter, why Jamieson? There must have been hundreds, perhaps thousands of artists who painted Paris street scenes including horse-drawn omnibuses in the late C19th/early 20th. You seem to have plucked his name from the air solely because you found an article describing an exhibited work of his in generic terms that happen to resemble our title (which may also be generic). It was clearly not the official title of the work shown in 1928, or it would have been in capitals within quotation marks. And do you really think it likely that a newspaper reviewer would have singled out for attention amongst those works hanging in 'the large gallery' (including a "superb" portrait by Orpen) a small (7 in. high), rough and very unexceptional sketch?

Marcie Doran,

Was Thomas Ingham a dentist in Paris in the late 19th century? ‘The Dentists Register’ from 1882 shows a Thomas Ingram at 10, Boulevard des Italiens, Paris. https://tinyurl.com/53k5p9a4

A snippet of the 1935 Dentist's Register shows Thomas Ingram of Duckworth Hall Farm, Oswaldtwistle. Does anyone have access to ‘The Dentists Register’ of 1935? An article from 1899 stated that Thomas Ingham was new to milk production.

Osmund Bullock,

I don't think there any more to be seen about him in the 1935 Dentists Register than the listing you've already found - I'm attaching a slightly improved view of it made from two snippets.

Assuming the address given by the Collection for him is correct, you're clearly right about him being the dentist. He died in January 1936 at Duckworth Hall Farm, which he likely inherited from his mother's family - her father George Yates was farming there in 1851, and Thomas aged three was living/staying with them. He was born at or near Blackburn early in 1848 (birth reg'd 1st quarter).

A period in Paris in the 1880s/early 90s certainly explains his close contacts with French artists. A very good find, though it doesn't yet get us much closer to our painter - except inasmuch as it is suggests we should be looking for another Paris-based one of the period.

1 attachment
Marcie Doran,

That is indeed a much better view of the snippet. I knew you would sort out his family. Thank you, Osmund.

I suspect Thomas Ingham was teaching at L'Ecole Dentaire de Paris. See the top of page 177 of this book. https://tinyurl.com/bdfmfsze.

Lou Taylor, Dress and Textiles,

The last horse-drawn omnibus, according to Wiki, plied its trade in Paris in 1913. The unfashionable dress of the shadowy woman in the painting is hard to date- she has a cottage-loaf chignon-could be 1905-1914. Her slim tiered skirt could be c1913 but its short, above -ankle length - skirt is confusing, as is style of her blouse…. Sorry not to help more …but could c 1913 be possible?

Marcie Doran,

Is this a work by the French artist Jules Petillion (1845-1899)?

The first composite is based on a signature on the Heritage Auctions website https://tinyurl.com/2hhwt664.

The second composite is based on an image on the Arta Plaza website for ‘Paris sous la neige” c. 1890. https://tinyurl.com/bdhpjydd. In my opinion, the trees, horse-drawn omnibuses and women depicted are similar in the two works.

Louis Musgrove,

Could the artist be Thomas Ingham himself- it does look like a T before the squiggle ?????

Kieran Owens,

Jules starts with a J and this signature's first initial is quite obviously a T.

Marcie Doran,

I thought the man's hat looked 19th century, Lou. What do you think?

If you look closely at the T, Kieran, you will see that the horizontal line is composed of two strokes. Perhaps it is the top stroke of the J and then the top stroke of the T. Petillion doesn’t seem to fill in the entire P (so it looks like a T). The last letters of the signature, given that the artist would likely be French, are likely "ion”. And that slash under the signature does look like the slash that Petillion extends down from the final letter of his surname. I've attached two composites (a very rough signature comparison and a tree comparison).

Marcie Doran,

Here’s some additional information about the donor:

Thomas Ingham passed away on 7 January 1936 (not on 31 January 1936).

The 1910 ‘Dentists Register’ shows that Thomas lived at 23, Rue Caumartin, Paris, France, that year.

I’m not permitted to post the Findmypast record but, at the time of the 1921 Census (19 June 1921), Thomas was working as a dentist “at home”, where he lived with his housekeeper “Marie-Louise Lachaud”. Their address was 1 Victoria Road, Poulton-le-Fylde (near Blackpool).

Thomas reported that he was single, that his age was 73 years and 11 months and that he was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. He reported that Marie-Louise’s age was 44 years and 5 months and that she was single. Her nationality was French and she was born in Cezerat, France. Her probate entry on the Gov.UK website shows that she passed away on 27 June 1971.

According to a newspaper report from April 1936 (attached), Thomas Ingham still had an “estate” in France when he passed away. That report mentions the donation of “pictures or bronzes”. It also indicates that he made a bequest of “£3,000 and a gold watch and chain to his housekeeper, Marie Louise (Margarite) Lachaud”.

I suspect that his “late Uncle William” was William Ingham (1838–1917) of Brierfield, Lancashire (near Todmorden). I have attached William’s 1911 Census entry.

Marcie Doran,

I’ve attached two more background documents.

This is such a small work (18 x 12 cm). Does anyone else think that the artist could be [Pierre] Adolphe Valette (1876–1942)?

https://tinyurl.com/mu7ycc79

My composite is based on a small work (15.2 x 8.2 cm) on the Christie’s website, ‘Presbyterian Church, All Saints, with figures’. Note the woman’s foreshortened arm in each work.

https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5394656

Marcie Doran,

The will of Thomas Ingham doesn’t provide any helpful information.

While he was described as the “nephew” of George Yates of Duckworth Hall in the 1851 Census, I agree with Osmund (09/05/2022 04:24) that Thomas would have been George’s grandson.

My guess is that his parents were John and Mary Ingham who owned the Wheat Sheaf Inn on Darwen Street in Blackburn. The obituary for their daughter Betsey confirms the link with George Yates. I’ve attached the 1851 Census record for the Ingham household in Blackburn.

Please support your comments with evidence or arguments.

jpg, png, pdf, doc, xls (max 6MB)
Drop your files here
Attach a file Start uploading
 

Sign in

By signing in you agree to the Terms & Conditions, which includes our use of cookies.