I Found A Painting By My Dumpster Today...
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....And Grabbed It.
There is a certain truth to the phrase: "every man's trash is another man's treasure." I do believed I learned this truth today.
After a dreary day of feeling sorry for myself (warranted, but still unacceptable), I discovered a painting that had been laid up against my apartment complex's dumpster. At first, I paid it no attention as I am not in the habit of recovering other peoples' disposed of items. But upon further investigation, I changed my mind.
As is visible in the picture, the painting is of a young girl in a red dress playing the piano. She is quite alone in this activity, which is perhaps why the discarded painting attracted me in the first place- she is in fact alone, but couldn't seem to care less.
Needless to say, I took this painting from the dumpster and proceeded to research its origins. I was surprised to discover that not much is known about this painting, nor its painter. Several sites featured people who had either stumbled upon the work in a consignment shop or had inherited it after the death of a relative. In addition, there were scores of people who were desperately searching for this painting due to its sentimental value.
The painting I have recovered from its intended final resting place is in fact quite old, and unfortunately in poor condition. I believe that the painting had been hiding in one of my neighbor's apartments and was discarded with the remainder of the spring cleaning trash.
Which brings me to my next point- how could someone just toss a beautiful work of art such as this? As I said before, the painting itself is in less than ideal condition, however I can only imagine that the beauty of its elements remain the same as they were when they were first committed to canvas. Such a travesty!
For those art fanatics out there, or for anyone is simply more intelligent than I in the manner of artwork, the artist's name is signed at the bottom, a "M. Ditlef". The painting itself is titled "Sonata" and is the sister of several other works illustrated in the same Victorian style. And because I was unable to discover any information whatsoever about its origins, I implore those more-intelligent people who may be reading this for help!
.....what I DID discover, however, is that the picture is worth over $300.00, even in very poor shape.
Needless to say, my find brightened my day and I do intend on keeping the painting; I quite admire the young lady that it features.
For Further Information
Very little seems to be known about this painting, and even less about its painter. The link below details the meager information I have uncovered in my quest.
- Their Story
McGrew, Ralph Brownell McGrew, Morning Melody, Morning Melodies,piano and violin art, vintage musical prints, vintage prints, antique prints,Antoni Ditlef, M Ditlef, Vincente Aderente, Gail Frank, Louis Jambor, Frederic Mizen,Marguerite Pearson,
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Nice to see you again, Artist!
It is a very lovely print despite its age. It most needs some touching-up and restoration. You're correct about the two names; at first, I believed them to be siblings, but their works are too extremely similar. Others have suggested that M. Ditlef is actually a woman who changed her name for some reason on another, perhaps marriage. It is all very interesting...and mildly frustrating!
What a beautiful picture!
Someone else's deliberate loss was your gain ~ and you appreciate it ~ brilliant :)
Who would ever toss a painting in the trash? What a #$&%. Nice find and great Hub.
No clue. Thank goodness that I have no issues with dumpster-diving or that thing (which is now hanging in my living room) would have been long gone!
My Grandparents had this hanging in their living room until they both passed away. My aunt bought the house and I don't know what happened to the painting ( family fueds, won't talk to us, sad)I loved this painting as a child and have been looking everywhere for it!! So excited to finally see it, have been searching for months on web! I agree it is a beautiful painting, wish I had my grandparents!
I HAVE THE SONATA PAINTING AND LOOKING TO SELL IT. ANYBODY INTERESTED???? PRINHAP@GMAIL.COM
Sorry for the late response, Phillygirl, but thanks for the memory! My "Sonata" has since been reframed and displayed in my hallway. It is still wonderful to look at, even after all of those days hanging out by the dumpster!
Hello. I have a beautifully framed painting of "Sonata" by M Ditlef in flawless condition. I would entertain any offers to sell it.
Thank you!
919-832-1189
Remember just because it is a treasure to one person another may not even see the beauty. thanks! Arts are my favorite endeavor!
I have a print of M. Ditlef that is Song of Love that is in the same frame as your photo. It hung for I don't know how many years in a log cabin up in Dutch Flat. The cabin was built by my friends grandparents well over 50 years ago. Not sure how long it hung there but in excellent condition. I didn't find anything for a long time on it. It is more on loan to me as it still belongs to my girlfriend. I do however enjoy looking at it every day.
I happen to have the exact same painting. Mine happed to have been my Grand parents and it hung in their parlor from the time I was born. I am now 50YO and have the painting in my didning room now and LOVE it. I just wish I know more about the artist and value. To me priceless.
I bought my painting at a second hand store and never dreamed to even check the value of it. It is very nice. The price I paid was next to nothing
My sister just picked up a copy of "Sonata" by Antoni Ditlef for $25 from a resale shop. The reason she bought it is because her and I grew up with this picture hanging on our livingroom wall. Sadly, our mother passed away when I was 10 and she was 6 so this painting has sentimental and nostalgic value to us. So I looked into the whole thing and well...you can look it up yourself. Go to WWW.Ditlef.com to see all the "Victorian Musicals" paintings and to see their reproductive values. I am still looking for information on the original and if it is still available. I love your article by the way and posted it on Facebook. Thank you for sharing. Hope my reply was helpful. God bless you!
Very interesting story! Thanks for sharing :) Hope you were able to find more info on the artist!
Good save! Wonderful hub and beautiful painting-
I also love this painting. It hung over my grandmother's piano in her house. I have no idea where it ended up, but I always loved it as a child. I bought a piano a few years ago and have wanted to find that painting to hang over it. My sister just found it for $25 at a second-hand store! I'm so thrilled!
I have the painting as well I found it at a flea market and I have had it for 3 years I am finally going to hang it in my apt. It is so soothing to the site. LOVE IT.
Artist-for-Hire. If the bond between the painting and the artist is that strong, it should never leave the artist's home.
Look at the pleasure this find is bringing. Is it better to have our work gathering dust, or enjoyed. I say, the latter, and I plan on putting work out by a dumpster.
i have an orginal "sonata" painting in the orginal frame and you can see that it is very old it has nails holding in the painting on the wooded frame, est, value $50,000. is what i was told at an antique show
Hi.I stumbled upon this site and am so happy I did. I can't stop reading, etc. Anyway I got here searching myself for imformation about a framed print my grandmother left, me also called SONATA, but the artist is Jane Freeman.It also has a girl playing piano in blue dress. I wonder if anyone here could tell me anything.
Again it's been great and I will follow the "hub" Beth:)
you are not going to beliecve this, but I found the same exact painting in a Chicago alley, leaning next to a dumpster, rescued it, and its been hanging in my home for five years. Mine is in good condition, where did you find how much it is worth?
Wow....$50,000? No way! I don't think mine is in the original frame, and it's only a print, but it's still quite a catch! Natalie, I haven't been able to find any information about how much a print is worth exactly, but feel free to update me if you stumble across something!
Artist-For-Hire 13 months ago
Ohh, and how beautiful it is. (Welcome to HubPages btw.)
Don't these people know how much time and effort we invest in our work? Grr, it's SO frustrating. Work like that takes weeks if not months to paint...don't they realise the bond we form with our work after that length of time is comparable to the bond we have with our children?
You got me...I'm very curious now. These old paintings can be difficult to find. You can try askart.com - you can search artists alphabetically. To complicate matters there was an A.Ditlef as well as M.Ditlef = there is a thought that they may be one & the same.
Reproductions prints of this ilk flourished early last century as the tech took off. Sadly, this was pre-internet so unless the artist was a "somebody"...the knowledge will have been lost.
Good luck on your quest.