OIL PAINTING 1906 Empress of Britain oil on canvas

Surely, you must have art dealers in your area. If not, send the picture to the largest art museum near you. They will tell you if it has value.

Thank you for you fast reply.
I know the ship was a Liverpool - Quebec liner in its maiden days.
I've just been looking on the net and have found an auction house based in Cardiff which is not too far away, I will phone them on Monday.
Fingers crossed! It would be nice for the lady if it is good news.
Otherwise contact Liverpool museum.
Thank you so much.
Eileen

Hello Eileen, welcome to our forum. Is this the ship pictured in the painting? If so add its identifying information with any other pictures you send to dealers or museums. Separately, found a collectors' website in Wales; they have 2 pictures of the "Empress of Britain" - you might inquire there as well:
http://www.rhiw.com/y_mor/ships_photos_02/ships_09/ships_09.htm

Thank you for your help.

I have looked at your link and pictures. I think these were of either the Empress of Britain 2 or 3. The Empress of Britain painting that the lady has has only 2 turrets and was the first to be built in 1906.

The link below shows the pictures that I took of the painting when I visited her.
The flag on the bow of the Empress of Britain is red.
http://s755.photobucket.com/albums/xx192/eileen12345/

Also found sistership on auction, Empress of Ireland on this link:
http://store.paulmaddenantiques.com/anoilpaofemo.html
The flag on the bow of the Empress of Ireland is green.

Regards, Eileen

There are several pictures of ships with the same name, but some have 2 turrets, others have 3. Exact specifications might be of relevance and save time when you make inquiries. Go to Google, enter ship name in quotes, then click on "images" to locate closest resemblance; best of luck in your good works

Thank you so much for your kind help.
I'll let you know how things go and how it turns out no matter how long it takes. I just want to see an old lady very happy (fingers crossed!), just glad I managed to stop her putting it in the paper for £50, after all it's probably over 100 years old and who knows!
Best wishes, Eileen

Can you show a close up of the signature?

The lady already posted a link to a dealer listing painting of sister ship, "Empress of Ireland" for $4,800 by same artist with signature close-up.

Signatures do not match.

From Eileen's pictures >

> compared to advertisement for sister ship: http://store.paulmaddenantiques.com/anoilpaofemo.html
Matching colors exactly isn't easy - the red in the signatures and the orange in the ships' funnels are identical in both paintings. I don't know it the artist varied his signature over time - that should be easy to check - but the handwriting seems to be the same. Interesting point, though.

The EMPRESS of IRELAND had an importnt nd tragic history. Like the "Edmund Fitzgerald" It sank in a collision with another vessel in 1906 on the ST LAwrence. It was a famous asinking covered by all the press . SO, I imagine that the EMpress of Ireland carried the hiatorical ghoulish following and the price was maybe a bit higher. ALthough W. Kitzig was employed as a marine and Rail artist by the CAnadian Pacific (According to Ask ART) he did a number of illustrations that count as fimne art in todays niche markets for many cross over collectibles
You have it as a historical illustration
Its Canadian PAcific
Its a marine painting.
SO the ineterest may be varied ALSO, ITS big. and its horizontally layed out.
Rules of peddling art to the auction trade
1 Big Paintings command a premium 2 or more times what smaller ones demand (per square inch)

2 Horizontal paintings bring more than vertixcals

3 Ships are always big time

Im gonna guess that, even with todays soft market, it should bring 6 to 8 K. (In the pre 2000 "hot days") Ill bet it woulda brought twice as much.The retail value is (ill bet) around 12 K

ART IS A BUSINESS FIRST