religous painting

[johnw]

i dont know how old this is how can i tell if its a copy thank you

 

[ivan salis]

the st dominic monastery (nun convent ) was started by 4 nuns coming from france in 1880 --the actual building ( having 47 nun cells * was built and was set up and started use in newartk N. J in 1884 by 1893 all 47 slots were filled --so it can be no older than 1884 ( when the building was built and named) -- the nuns lived a "cloistred' convent -( shut in from the outside world ) - from 1884 until spetember of 2003 when the remaining 8 nuns gave up the building because of their inability to maintain it properly. --its highly likely that one of the nuns that lived there thru the years painted the picture

its very possible that they might have made and had others sell these paintings for them to raise funds to support themselves.

 

[DigginThePast]

Check out this web page. Might be a lead in one of the posts there. Apparently a lot of folks have the same sort of item.

http://citynoise.org/article/5244

 

[ivan salis]

the nuns might have been "copy painters" in that each one painted "copys" of a master painting , for sale to the public for a "gift" to the order to help them fund their needs .-- that would explain the numerous numbers of similar pictures all of the exact same type and of similar apperance.

as such each would be a "copy" of the master painting -- but at the same time it would be a original real oil painting by one of the nuns -- it of course would not be "signed" by the nun (which could be seen by some people as a a sign of trying to "stand out" or get worldly acclaim for her talent)-- but might be marked by the order in general --like w o h -- widows of hope

 

[GpSnoopy]

I've found this same painting for sale on Etsy, Ebay, Worthpoint. Some were stated as being overpainted prints. This would go along with what Ivan said.

the nuns might have been "copy painters" in that each one painted "copys" of a master painting , for sale to the public for a "gift" to the order to help them fund their needs .-- that would explain the numerous numbers of similar pictures all of the exact same type and of similar apperance.
as such each would be a "copy" of the master painting -- but at the same time it would be a original real oil painting by one of the nuns -- it of course would not be "signed" by the nun (which could be seen by some people as a a sign of trying to "stand out" or get worldly acclaim for her talent)-- but might be marked by the order in general --like w o h -- widows of hope

 

[ivan salis]

many "closed' orders of nuns or monks make things and have others sell the items they make to the outside world to support themselves * several wines and frangelica hazel nut flavored booze are famous items of this type -- my guess is that these nuns were "painters" and sold original oil "copy" paintings to support themselves.