I purchased two oil paintings[each 13x18 inches] in STRASBOURG FRANCE this 
spring.They are a matching pair of coastal scenes with fishermen, boats and
houses by the sea. They are signed Alp Cantal 1885 in a red oil paint.
Does anyone have information on this artist?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 27 Sep 2003 04:39 PDT

Hello Mikey,

Can you tell me the name and address of the gallery that you purchased
the paintings from.  It will help in researching the artist.

Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by chromedome-ga on 07 Oct 2003 07:07 PDT

Hello, Mikey:

I have at least some negative information for you.  I spent a part of
yesterday at the library, looking for your mysterious M. Cantal. 
Unfortunately, he does not appear in the exhaustive Benezit
"Dictionary of Painters, Sculptors, Designers and Engravers;" the most
authoritative reference for non-living artists.  Neither did he have
an entry in the Thieme-Becker "Kunstler-Lexikon," another outstanding
work.  Finally, checking available print resources, I was unable to
locate any indication that this artist's work had been sold through
any of the mainstream American or European art auction venues.

This leaves us with a few possibilities.  The first is that your
artist was either solely a hobbyist, or at least was singularly
unsuccessful.  A late-19th century French painter would certainly be
in Benezit, if he had achieved even a local or regional reputation.

In this instance, you might wish to write to the city of Strasbourg
(assuming that the artist was local...can the dealer you purchased
from tell you that?) and ask if any of the local historians could help
you with your quest.

Another possibility is that perhaps you've misread the signature;
we've seen that before with similar questions.  Could you perhaps
upload a digital photo of these works (or scan a paper photo) and give
us a link, so that we can examine these works ourselves?

Regards,

-Chromedome

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 10 Oct 2003 11:01 PDT

Approaching this from a different angle, is it possible that these
"Alp Cantal" notations might merely be the names or descriptions of
the paintings?

I found this reference to a the geographical area known as "the
Cantal":

"Its most striking feature is the mountainous and eruptive area known
as the Massif Central, which covers south-central France. The central
point of this huge tract is formed by the mountains Df Auvergne
comprising the group of Cantal, where the P10mb du Cantal attains 6096
ft., and that of Mont I)ore, containing the Puy de Sancy (6188 ft.),
the culminating point of the Massif, and to the north the lesser
elevations of the Monts Dome..."

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

alp probably stand for Alphonse which was a quite popular name at that
time

could not find the cantal name in www.artprice.com which collects all
information from auctions in France

you may want to check these links
://www.google.com/search?q=%22Alp+Cantal+1885%22&num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0

remove the quotes for more results..

hope it helps
~bala