It often happens that, considering the paintings of old masters, we can not accurately determine who is the author of a particular painting. The modest "N. H. " (unknown artist) in the lower right corner, as a rule, causes considerable annoyance. It’s a little more pleasant to see the inscription beginning with the words “master ...”, but it is not very informative, because, as a rule, it is followed by the name of some little-known town or parish.
It all starts with the Renaissance
Artists of the Middle Ages took almost no time to leave a sign in the picture indicating their authorship. This was facilitated by a number of reasons: work with a specific customer, the secondary position of the artist compared to God, who is the creator of all things, and, as a result, the lack of creative ambition and desire to achieve fame.
Another thing is the ancient artists and sculptors, who boldly signed their work, sometimes not by one, but by two signatures at once - the potter and artist, which served as a kind of prototype of modern advertising.
Perhaps, for this reason, it was the Italian artists who were the first to lose their modest modesty, and by the end of the 15th century almost all of them - masters of the Renaissance - left not only signatures on their works, but also indicated the time of creation and provided the necessary explanations for the paintings. One of the striking examples of artists' signatures in paintings of this period is the signature of Albrecht Durer, whose even the earliest works were always accompanied by a detailed commentary.
I, Albrecht DĂĽrer from Nuremberg, painted myself with eternal colors at the age of 28.
Such a signature was left by the master on his “Self-portrait in the Image of Christ”, written in 1550.
To the question of the term
Before considering other examples of artists' signatures in paintings, we will deal with concepts. What is the name of these signatures correctly?
In the glossary of terms presented on the website of the Russian Academy of Arts, such a concept as a signature is indicated. This is any designation by the artist of his authorship, which can be represented in the form of a signature, monogram or any other sign selected at the discretion of the artist. It is clear that it is difficult to overestimate the significance of the signature, because it is it that testifies to the fact that the work belongs to a particular artist, allowing descendants and art historians to observe, study and explore painting in relation to its author and period.
Naturally, the signatures of great artists in paintings, as well as dating, several times increased the value of these paintings, and therefore their value. This was used by some particularly arrogant artists. For example, the infamous Pablo Picasso. There are many legends about his excessive passion for money. Here is one of them.
Having already reached the pinnacle of his fame and gained wide popularity around the world, Pablo continued to be very scrupulous about money. He tried to use every opportunity to keep his hard-earned money with him and famously circled the fingers of the owners of numerous restaurants where he liked to relax in the company of his friends. Often, when the waiters brought the artist an account, he made a cunning face and answered in this way: "How about the fact that I just leave a small drawing on this form?"
But back to the falsification. Often the signatures were falsified, which led the audience astray. But there were times when fake signatures were good. So, for example, one of the paintings by the Dutch artist Josef Izraels, presented in the Christie's collection, was signed in the name of another Dutch artist - Bernardus Johannes Blommers. The falsification was committed during the Second World War, probably in order to hide the Jewish origin of its author and protect it from destruction.
In the early 2000s, the identity of the creator was precisely established, and the artist's real signature on the painting was returned. The history of art knows many other similar examples, but in general, the falsification of signatures provoked the righteous indignation of their creators, who were forced to defend their authorship in the courts.
Now let's look at some of the signatures of artists in paintings of the 19th century.
Pierre Auguste Renoir
For many impressionists, including Renoir, it was characteristic that throughout their career as an artist, the signatures on the paintings practically did not change.
Renoir put on the paintings only a neat stroke of his surname and added a year of painting. In very rare cases, he used only the first letter - R. It is interesting that Renoir's autograph was quite different from the signature left by the artist in the paintings.
Gustav Klimt
The signature of this Austrian artist is not in doubt, despite the fact that it looks very original and concise. Klimt divided his first and last name into two lines, putting one on top of the other. The spelling itself is so unusual that now there is even a special font called Klimt.
Vincent van Gogh
The painting of the artist, so beloved by many modern admirers of art, was oriented towards French society during his life. However, during the Dutchman’s arrival in Paris, he noted that for many Frenchmen, the pronunciation of his last name — van Gogh — seemed very complicated. Because of this, the artist’s signature in the picture was reduced only to a name so as not to create additional phonetic difficulties for French friends.
Edward Munch
Norwegian painter also preferred to sign all of his paintings, as well as photographs and letters. His signature ranged from a simple monogram of EM to writing the full name. The most famous and common signature is a partially abbreviated form of the name - E. Munch or Edv. Munch.
Munch was an admirer of Van Gogh's work, and therefore he borrowed the idea for one of his paintings, Starry Night, from an idol. Wanting to hide this fact, in the second version of "his" picture he preferred to leave a barely noticeable signature, while on the first version it is completely absent.
Ivan Aivazovsky
Few people know that the real name of the artist is Hovhannes Ayvazyan. His father, having moved to Feodosia, for some time wrote his name as “Gayvazovsky,” supposedly in the Polish manner. And until the 1840s. the artist’s signature in the picture was often simply designated as “Guy,” that is, an abbreviation for the father’s name. Later, he still decides to completely change his surname, and signs his later paintings with the usual Aivazovsky.
It is also noteworthy that at the beginning of his career Aivazovsky uses the Cyrillic alphabet in his signature, but then, when his popularity around the world gradually spread, he began to resort to the Latin alphabet.
Fortunately, thanks to the development of the Internet, there are many resources today where photos of artists' signatures in paintings are freely available, which means that anyone who is interested in this topic can easily find them and study them. It is very simple.
Now that we know what the artists' signatures in the picture are called, we can decide for ourselves which of them has the most beautiful and original signatures.