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I have received this painting from my grandma recently. However, she is unable to identify the location of this painting. Additionally, I am unsure about the name of the painter (lower right corner). I think I know what it is, but I will not add it to prevent priming you guys. Also, if you have any ideas to where I could post this question too, I am open to suggestions!

Complete image

Middle

Left

Right

Name

Name zoomed in

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  • A nautical expert could probably provide an approximate date based on the ship and boats.
    – csk
    Dec 29, 2020 at 21:53
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    Is it a coincidence that this question was posted on the day exactly 1 year after this oddly similar question? Is there a popular tradition of people giving away mysterious paintings of ships and tugboats in Hamburg with Sankt Michaelis church tower in the background around Christmas?
    – jkej
    Dec 30, 2020 at 17:12
  • @jkej Oh wow, I did not know that! It is a coincidence indeed. I don't know about the other question, but this was just because my grandma moved, so I don't think it's related haha.
    – Bae Browns
    Dec 31, 2020 at 10:36
  • Possibly Fritz Muller? johnmoran.com/auction-lot/…
    – Valorum
    Dec 31, 2020 at 16:35
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    I’m voting to close this question because it does not appear to be about travel in the scope defined in the help center. All "where in the world" questions are somewhat borderline, but this one does not even attempt the facade of being a place one would want to visit or a method by which one would want to visit. This is art identification, not travel.
    – choster
    Dec 31, 2020 at 18:40

1 Answer 1

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The church tower on the third picture looks like Sankt Michaelis (Michel) in Hamburg. The tower was rebuilt into it's current form after it burned down in 1906 so this dates the painting as being done later than 1906.

enter image description here

Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hamburg-Michaeliskirche-Hafen.jpg

From the comments (thanks @emil):

  • The building left of the Michel church tower is the Seewetteramt, former Navigationsschule (build in 1905) and the tower to the right of the largest ship is the clock tower of Kaispeicher A (Kaiserspeicher) (demolished in 1963, the second Kaispeicher A building became the lower part of the Elbphilharmonie in 2007). This also puts some time constraints on when the painting was made and it puts the location close to the St. Pauli Piers.
  • The fact that the church tower is green in the painting but appears dark in recent pictures is not surprising: The copper cladding of the tower was renewed in 2009 and will take some years before it develops a green patina again

The name of the artist seems to be "F. Müller". Müller (Miller) is a very common name in Germany, so you might need an art specialist to find out details. Franz Müller-Gossen might fit but seems to have a different signature and a slightly different style, it also could be somebody who hasn't left traces in the Internet.

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  • I thought of Franz Müller-Gossen, too, but his signature looks differently - additionally, he seemed to have signed using his full name, not just "F. Müller".
    – tohuwawohu
    Dec 29, 2020 at 12:31
  • @tohuwawohu Ah, right. Didn't find anything to compare to.
    – nohillside
    Dec 29, 2020 at 12:31
  • Wow, it does resemble the church a lot indeed! Thank you, I will look it up. As for the name, my initial guess was F. Möller, which led me to Fyodor Antonovich Moller, but this work does not show up at his gallery and his style does also seem to differ from my painting. The signature is also different from what I've seen.
    – Bae Browns
    Dec 29, 2020 at 13:46
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    I want to confirm that this is very likely Hamburg: The building left of the Michel church tower is the Seewetteramt, former Navigationsschule (build in 1905) and the tower to the right of the largest ship is the clock tower of Kaiserspeicher A (demolished in 1963). This also puts some time constraints on when the painting was made and it puts the location close to the St. Pauli Piers.
    – Emil
    Dec 29, 2020 at 23:17
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    By the way, the fact that the church tower is green in the painting but appears dark in recent pictures is not surprising: The copper cladding of the tower was renewed in 2009 and will take some years before it develops a green patina again.
    – Emil
    Dec 29, 2020 at 23:17

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