I have something that I think is kind of interesting, and I wanted to share it with this community and see what you think of it.
About 8 years or so ago I came into possession of a very large painting on unmounted canvas. The "Mutual Building and Loan Association Building", built in Charlotte NC in 1921 on East 3rd St. was torn down, and this canvas, which hung in the building lobby, was given to me. The architect for the building was Louis Asbury, a famous NC architect who died in 1976.
The canvas is huge. It is about 6.5 feet by 4.5 feet. It depicts a very exact copy of the White Rock Psyche image, all the way down to the flowers. The canvas is VERY old, and is attached to two wooden rods, top and bottom. I could easily believe this painting is at least as old as the building, and maybe even older. The bank was established in 1881, and they attached a small metal plaque to the canvas with their name, established date, and address of the building. I have the plaque, but it is no longer on the piece, and is broken in two pieces.
The painting seems somewhat faded, but is in surprisingly good condition for it's apparent age. I would love to know who painted it, and when, but I have had zero success in finding any information about who might have been commissioned by the Bank to paint it. It appears this bank displayed it prominently for over 70 years.
The pictures I have attached may be somewhat distorted in perspective because I had to stand on top of a barstool to try and get as much of the image captured as I could. It's so big, I couldn't photograph the entire thing all at once.
My ex husband took it to an appraiser in Charlotte some years ago, before I even was sure who the image depicted, and that appraiser said he really had no idea of it's potential value, but he expressed interest in the canvas. The appraiser told him that he was inclined to believe that the image is painted on Civil War era tent canvas. I have no idea how you would actually validate such a thing, but if true, it would certainly mean that this piece is quite unique.
How would one go about investigating a piece like this, when the bank is gone, the building is torn down, and all the principals are long dead?
