Filastro Mottola Oil Painting, ca. 1950
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GUEST:
About 16 years ago, my daughter and her husband bought their first home, and this was left hanging in the home. It wasn't really my daughter's taste, and she said, "Mom, do you want this?" I'm, like, "Sure, I love it," and it's been hanging in my house ever since. I've tried to figure out the name.
APPRAISER:
Yup.
GUEST:
No luck. I've gone online and typed in "wharf scene," and I have never found anything.
APPRAISER:
Yup. Yeah, it's not an easy signature to crack, and it took a little bit of, of looking. And it's signed here in the lower right corner, and it's Mottola. And it's Filastro Mottola.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
He was actually born in New Jersey in 1915, but, at a very young age, moved to California.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So, he's a somewhat noted, respected, appreciated California artist. Painted mostly in Orange County, but on occasion, would go north up to Monterey, and these are the Monterey fishing wharfs.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And what is particularly attractive about this, in my mind, is, the scale is wonderful.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
It's 30 inches by 40 inches. It's action-packed, and there's a lot in it. And you get wonderful foreground with the blue water, great brush strokes, lots of beautiful reflections from the fishing boats.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Then, you get the wharf itself with the commercial buildings, and the fishermen shacks, a great sky in the background. And over on your side, there's even a restaurant or a pub of some sort. It says "Lou's" on the sign there. So, it's got a lot of activity in it, great color, great movement with the horizontals and the verticals. The medium here is oil paint, and it's on a Masonite board. It was probably painted mid-century, so it's probably been 50 to 60 years, maybe 70 years since it's been painted. It doesn't appear as if it's ever been cleaned. It would definitely brighten up maybe an octave, half an octave if you got it clean. I'm sure it's the original frame and liner. This is just what they would have done in the mid-century.
GUEST:
Oh, is it?
APPRAISER:
Which is a linen liner here and this pickled wood-carved frame. Several similar paintings have sold at auction in the last couple of years, and my feeling is that the auction value today is somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000.
GUEST:
Oh, that's awesome! My daughter is going to want it back.
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