‘Salisbury Cathedral’ Oil on Canvas by Edmund John Neimann 1876

Description

PRESENTING A STUNNING, IMPORTANT AND HIGHLY DESIRABLE 19th Century English Landscape painting of ‘Salisbury Cathedral’, Oil on Canvas by Edmund … more PRESENTING A STUNNING, IMPORTANT AND HIGHLY DESIRABLE 19th Century English Landscape painting of ‘Salisbury Cathedral’, Oil on Canvas by Edmund John Neimann 1876.

Large painting of a very desirable landscape image of the world famous, ‘Salisbury Cathedral’ by the famous English landscape artist, Edmund John Neimann (1813-1876).

This oil on canvas is simply BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED!

The quality of the detail to the Cathedral building, River Avon, sky, puffy pink clouds and trees, is simply OUTSTANDING and most definitely by the ‘hand’ of ‘Neimann’.

Signed on bottom left as “Neimann 1876”.

COA on the back.

In original gilt frame with original matting.

All the genuine signs of age and authenticity.

The signature is correct and has been compared and is identical to fully authenticated Niemann signatures (see below).

The signature has been examined under ‘black light’ and is not a later addition. It is original to the painting.

It has been cleaned and has no tears or noticeable losses, it is is great original condition.

Colors are still very vibrant.

We are confident, that this was one of the last paintings made by Neimann before his death in 1876.

We acknowledge that the date on the painting most definitely looks like ‘1896’ and this concerned us greatly, as this would have been 20 years after the artist’s death.

The ‘COA’ on the back of the frame also concerned us somewhat, due to: (1) the artist originally being identified as ‘Ernest Neimann’ (no records of any such artist) and it was changed by pen, to “EJ Neimann”. Also, (2) it gives the date as ‘1896’, which is simply not possible for Edmund John Neimann who died in 1876.

These ‘concerns’ led us to a deep and thorough research of all these issues, in an attempt to answer the questions.

At first we thought, that maybe it was possible that Edmund’s son, Edward H. Neimann (active from 1863-1887) and also a talented artist, could have either painted it or finished it for his father, after his death in 1876, BUT Edward himself, died in 1887 which still predates 1896.

Then we thought that maybe, one of Neimann’s students could have finished it, BUT, 20 years after his death is highly unlikely.

The COA does not help much, as we can find no record of the company that issued it, namely, ‘F.R.’. The COA looks mid 20C to us, which is not that concerning, as it would not be unusual to have a new owner seek to authenticate. The fact that it has a Registered Number of ‘5511’ is not very helpful, if you cannot find the register!

Then, we zoomed in on/magnified, the date on our painting and noticed that the ‘9’ in ‘1896’ does not completely conjoin. Was it possible that the “9′ was, in fact, a “7”?

We looked for Neimann signatures and paintings that have previously appeared on the market, which had been fully authenticated, that were painted and dated by the artist in the 1870’s. Was it simply a ‘poorly’ drawn ‘7’ or perhaps simply the artists quirk with how he drew his ‘7’s’.

We discovered a painting that had been sold by a well-known and very reputable art auction house on the west cost of the US, in 2020, that was listed as by ‘Edmund John Neimann (1843-1910) signed and dated 1895. Not only are the dates for EJ Neimann ALL wrong, but the signature was correct and again, the date looks like it is “1895’, which is simply not possible.

We searched, to compare fully authenticated signatures of Niemann from any time in the 1870’s, and discovered a number of them, where the “7” was drawn in a loop. Whilst, somewhat ‘loopy’ they were identifiable as “7’s”, but in 1/2 cases were close enough to conjoining, to be confused with a “9”.

In conclusion, after our extensive research, we are of the firm belief and opinion, that the date on this painting, is in fact ‘1876’ and NOT ‘1896’. The “9” is in fact, a poorly drawn ‘7’.

The last 2 pics, are examples of Niemann's authentic signature and one with his "7".

This is therefore, a hither-to-fore unknown painting by Edmund John Neimann of the famous ‘Salisbury Cathedral and quite possibly, one of the very last paintings he ever painted, making it EXTREMELY important!

Provenance: Acquired from a local Dallas Auction.

Dimensions: In Frame: 61 inches wide, 40 inches tall and 2.5 inches deep.

Canvas: 54.5 inches x 34.5 inches

Condition: Very good original condition. less