Help ID'ing man and artist

[4keeps707]

Hello..I am hoping someone could tell me who this guy is or the artist. Part of the name is under frame, but I thought it said Santino? I tried google image but it came back with Santas and not much more. Thank you for any help and/or ideas. 

[sonomabarn67]

So you have had it out of the frame then? If so pull it back out and take a pic of what it says as a start..

[4keeps707]

no..I didn't take it out of frame. That was just a guess on my part. I thought maybe someone would recognize the guy and hoped that would lead to the artist of this print.

[debora_34_]

I'm afraid you're going to have to take it out of frame if you want to discover artist's name.  

Debora

[debora_34_]

Looks like a watercolor.  Is it?  Or is it a print?

Debora

[vintageads]

Print

[zzydny]

Assuming that it's Italian, they have a bunch of names that end in -tino.  Agreed that you need to unframe this to see.

[debora_34_ · Accepted solution]

Subject Italian fisherman, by way.  Doubt portrait.

Debora

[4keeps707]

wow debora_34_ ! I didn't think he was Italian or a fisherman. That pic almost looks like the same guy. Very nice. I'm drawn to the facial expression. Nicely done. I think it is a print. Kind of reminded me of pics in books back then..See Spot run, Dick and Jane but if I look at the paper, it looks kinda course by that looking not touching it.

[4keeps707]

Thank you all for all your responses ! I was able to locate a similiar pic with a pipe of this guy through your responses ! http://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/269365/italian-watercolour-portrait-by-antonio-fiorentino/ would you agree? 

[sonomabarn67]

The paper on yours looks to be watercolor paper. If mine, I would carefully open up the back and remove the pic and take a few super crisp, well lit, in high focus photos (not cell phone camera) and post them here.

Use a cake frosting spatula to insert under the nails to prevent damage to the picture. Go slowly.

[sonomabarn67]

Also, it looks like your sig may be trimmed from looking at other samples of his works. Might be folded under though.

[4keeps707]

Thank you sonomabarn67 ! I did take out of frame, curiosity got the best of me..sig is cut off not folded. Paper is textured, is this a print in your opinion?

[sonomabarn67]

It really looks like an original watercolor. One way to determine if it is a print is to take a jeweler's loupe and see if there are a uniform series of different color small dots that make up the image. With an original watercolor, those don't exist. Some watercolors will leave trace elements of pigments (look in the darkest parts of the image and valleys of the paper) for the colored bits.

Even though the sig is trimmed, there are enough online examples that you can tell it's  him.

[4keeps707]

Thank you for explaining how to tell original vs print. This appears to be a print. I've heard of dots on prints, but when you said "uniformed" it helped me to identify what was meant by dots. I looked at a original watercolor I had and I can see the difference. Much appreciated ! And I appreciate all those who chimed in to help, I am learning so much just by following this board and picking up on contributors knowledge.