About a year or so ago, I purchased a small print at an antiques store
of a painting depicting a man and woman walking in the rain. I'd love
to know the artist's name and when the painting was created and where
the original is. My print is quite small and framed, but has no
signature or markings identifying it.

While browsing TV one night, I caught a minute of one of Bob Vila's
home shows and he was walking through a home and there on the wall was
this very painting, only it was at least 4 feet high and a couple of
feet wide. It was huge and really cool looking.

I am sorry I don't have any other information about it. I'll be very
glad if anyone recognizes it and can tell me who painted it, when it
was painted, where I might be able to buy a larger print, and where I
might be able to buy other works from the artist.

Here are a couple of photos I took of the painting. Sorry, they aren't
the best pics.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/sillybridget/P1010159.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/sillybridget/P1010158.jpg


Thanks!

Your painting is called "The Garden of Eden." The artist's name is
Briton Riviere (1840-1920). A few sources attribute this work to
Briton Riviere's son, Hugh Goldwin Riviere (1869-1956), who painted in
a similar style.

Here's a nice print, from one of my favorite online art sites:

Respree.com: Garden of Eden
http://www.respree.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/product/pages/sku/LWEBBC103/index.html?L+scstore+zppr7522ffc9acc9+1093247529

Respree.com offers several other prints by Briton Riviere:

Respree.com: Briton Riviere
http://www.respree.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/product/pages/artist/Briton-Riviere?E+scstore

Here's an interesting piece of info about the painting, from a site
that sells expensive replicas:

"The Garden Of Eden
 Briton Riviere 1840-1920
Created by Briton Riviere especially for two real life lovers to help
them financially, this painting is of a young heiress cut-off from her
family because of her love of a young man from a socially inferior
position. Obviously deeply and utterly in love, the couple are
oblivious to the damp misty London day which surrounds them as they
walk along, her face beaming with love."

Diana Furniture: Oil Paintings
http://dianafurnituremfg.com/furniture_rep_site_diana_group_sales_019.htm

And here you'll find a brief biography of Briton Riviere:

Victorian Art in Britain: Briton Riviere
http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/biog/briton_riviere.htm

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "briton" + "riviere" + "garden of eden" 
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=briton+riviere+%22garden+of+eden

I hope this is helpful. If anything is unclear or incomplete, or if a
link doesn't work for you, please request clarification; I'll gladly
offer further assistance before you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

Whoo hoo! Pink, you rock! Thank you so much! I have one quick question
-- did you recognize the painting right away? I had done so many
searches for it and since I had nowhere to begin, kept looking for
"Man and woman walking in rain painting" etc. I see you went straight
for the artists's name so I figued maybe you knew it from somewhere.
I'm just curious:) This is awesome. I have this painting hanging in my
bedroom and I see it every day and this question was just gnawing at
me! I'm so relieved to have the answer.
Cheers!

Many thanks for the five stars and the tip! It is always nice to be
able to assist a Google Answers colleague.

In answer to your question about whether I recognized the painting
right away, I confess that I did not instantly recognize it. Search
engines aren't much use in a case like this until you have a clue
about the name of the painting or the artist. I found the painting's
name by doing a keyword search on the Respree site, using the keyword
"rain." Respree has one of the best keyword searches around; even
though the name of the painting does not contain the word "rain," the
painting was indexed under that word.

~Pink

Awesome! That helps me with future searches of my own. Thanks again
for the site; I hadn't known about it before.:)

Thanks for the kind words, Pink. =)

Respree,

The pleasure is mine. Respree.com is a wonderful resource, and I am
delighted to be able to sing its praises!

~Pink