To be or not to be a painting by Byam Shaw?

This painting was attributed to Byam Shaw, but this is in question.

I recently had the opportunity to do some research for a client that wanted to know if the painting she bought was actually painted by the artist the seller had attributed it to.  The painting was allegedly painted by the late 19th century British painter, Byam Shaw. Shaw was an illustrator, designer and teacher.  He was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and the content of his work reflects this.  When my client bought the painting she had every reason to believe it was by Shaw except for a few questionable items.  The first was that when she received the painting the frame that appeared to be arts and crafts was actually a recently built frame.  There was also a brass name plate on the frame that read Byam Shaw, but something didn’t seem right.

These two paintings are legitimate Byam Shaw paintings. Although there are similarities between the two artists, Shaw and Muschamp, after looking at each of their cataloged paintings it becomes pretty clear that our painting is by the later.

Although the seller never stated there was a signature, my client noticed that one could barely be seen in the lower left corner.  We decided to have the painting scanned at hi-res in hopes that it would allow me to use my photoshop skills to see if I could get a better read on the signature.  And just as I suspected I was able to make some adjustments to the digital file and just like magic the signature was a bit more eligible. I immediately noticed that the first part of the signature read Sydney.  This meant that it wasn’t painted by Byam Shaw.  

This is what happened when I adjusted the image in photoshop. You can barely make out the name Sydney.

Now that I had a name I decided to do a little search online for a late 19th century painter with the name Sydney.  And that is when I found Francis Sydney Muschamp. Once I figured out who the painter was and became familiar with his work it was completely clear to me that we had our artist.  One article I found read that “Muschamp was an accomplished figure painter and his oeuvre is decorated with beautifully rendered interiors, sweeping dresses, and maidens captivated by chivalrous acts.” This is a pretty good general description of his work and is made evident in the painting in question.

Although both artists share a similar approach to painting there is a quiet stillness in the overall design of most of Mushamp’s paintings. Plus, many of the interiors look like they were inspired by exact same interior as the one depicted in our painting.

Uncovering the true artist of this painting gives me a little hope that there still might be masterpieces out there to be properly identified.