Are these murals of a real location? Perhaps Bavaria?

Question

In the town of Blackpool, England my partner and I have bought a house which was built around 1952. When we took the old wallpaper off the walls, we discovered amazing things - the lounge, dining room and bedrooms were all covered with full size, hand-painted murals.

We were told that there was also a full working fountain in the dining room.

Somehow, I think they look like Bavarian scenes. We are told that a German woman lived there in 1950s/1960s. She operated a grand cafe in our town called 'Black Forest Cafe'. Does anyone recognise any of the locations?

I feel these are inspired by real places, not just imagination, as the details are so intricate, such as two random palm trees next to an observatory or folly. Or perhaps the random hillside house near a viaduct/bridge, or the lakeside jetties, and the detail in the lakeside 'lighthouse'. We would love to know where the scenes are from, if anyone knows if it is a real location.

Answer 1

I'm putting in an answer, as I've got too much for a comment.

This doesn't strike me as a 'Bavarian scene'. The peaks are a bit too pointy, the palm tree (I only see one) is not quite Bavarian, and the square sail on the sailboat feels more eastern Mediterranean to me.

I found the following painting, which includes a slightly tilted bridge, not dissimilar from the one in your painting. The website is slow. It's "Le Pont St Louis Nice" by Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck (Jr.).

A search for that bridge returns modern Nice, but also a few old images, like this one, which seem like a spitting image of the bridge. Notice, also, the two small houses on either side of the bridge itself, which seem to be replicated in your painting.

However, another view of the same bridge shows that the wider area around the bridge is quite different from your painting, which would rule out this particular setting as the real-life version of your painting.

The bridge in the images is in the town of Menton, in southern France. And some sleuthing around Menton results in the discovery of a picture of the bridge, taken from the sea (included below).

This is still not quite the same image as your painting, but, notice the slant of the mountain to the left of the bridge, and compare that with the actual slant in the image. This, and the scene in general, is close enough, for me, to consider that your painting could be an artist's impression of the "Pont St. Louis" in Menton, France.

For one, Menton has palm trees :)

Edit (after OP added a second image): The second image feels quite generic to me, while the right side of the image is hard to make out. But, the church on the left and the setting have a passing resemblance to The Santuario della Madonna del Sasso, in Locarno.

Answer 2

Based on MastaBabas answer. You can clearly see from Google Maps that the location is on the border between France and Italy (in fact the border runs through that bridge), in a place called Menton Saint Louis. See link to the below image here including the mountains, bridge, and style of trees around the costal area.

• Menton - Pont Saint Louis (bridge), 43.786120 ,7.529919 (Google Maps)
  • with Street View, the view from the bridge can be seen

• around 1920

Answer 3

People from southern Germany just love northern Italy, especially in Bavaria. It is easy to reach, cheap (used to be...), and folks speak German ("Südtirol"). From the mountains, the style of houses, and the vegetation I think this could be southern Tirol region, very likely around Lago di Garda.