The Signature Index is Viridian Eclection's working reference to how the artists in our archive signed their work. Each entry records the documented forms of the signature, where it sits on the picture, what it was painted in, how it helps date a work, and what to check before trusting it. Every entry is drawn from dated sources: auction and exhibition catalogues, museum records, period newspapers and the works that have passed through our hands.

A signature is evidence, not proof. Names were misspelled by newspapers, added by later owners, or shared by unrelated painters. Where the record is thin or our own example departs from an artist's documented habit, we say so plainly.

How to Read a Signature

  1. Look at it in raking light and under magnification. A period signature sits in the paint film and shares its craquelure. A later addition often sits on top of the varnish or bridges cracks.
  2. Check it under ultraviolet light. Retouching and later inscriptions usually fluoresce differently from original paint.
  3. Compare the paint. Most painters signed with a color already on the palette. A signature in a color that appears nowhere else in the picture deserves a second look.
  4. Turn the work over. Titles, dates, addresses, gallery and framer's labels, auction stickers and stock numbers on the reverse often say more than the front.
  5. Match the signature to the period. Many artists changed how they signed over a career, after a marriage, or when they changed their name. A signature form that belongs to one decade on a picture painted in the style of another is a warning.
  6. Search every spelling. Period records misspell names constantly. Search variants before deciding a painter is unrecorded.

The Artists

Alice Cardelli Swett · Einar Cortsen Petersen · Erik Holland · Joseph Capecchi · Leandro Sirvent · Nasser Assar · Ransome Gillet Holdredge · Wayne Zavosky

Alice Cardelli Swett

Signature of Alice Cardelli Swett

Documented forms

  • CARDELLI (surname alone, capital letters; works of about 1958 to 1971, when she exhibited as Mrs. Alice Cardelli)
  • Cardelli Swett (upper and lower case; works after her marriage to Bill Swett, reported December 1971)

Placement

Lower corner; lower right on the Viridian Eclection Desert Landscape. Placement on other works should be checked case by case.

Medium

Painted in the medium of the work: oil on oils (as on our Desert Landscape); watercolor works are documented (Six Mile Canyon, 1958) but their signature medium has not been examined.

Dating clues

  • CARDELLI points to roughly 1958 to 1971.
  • Cardelli Swett points to about 1971 or later; the exact marriage date is unknown, so 1971 itself is possible.
  • Silver City subjects and canyon views of Gold Canyon and Six Mile Canyon belong to her documented 1958 to 1960s period.
  • Dated museum works: Gold Canyon, oil, March 1958; Six Mile Canyon, watercolor, 1958 (Dayton Museum 2017.27.1 and 2017.27.2).

Authentication notes

  • Subjects are almost always western Nevada: canyon roads, sagebrush flats, wildlife, distant hills in lavender, muted earth palette.
  • Do not confuse with the Italian painter Raimondo Cardelli or other Cardelli signatures on European subjects.
  • Disregard the dates 1943 to 2025 given in an online auction listing; she was widowed in 1946. Her birth and death dates are not established.
  • Provenance from Dayton families (Perondi, Raggio) or from her shop at 47 Main Street, Dayton, is supportive; compare against the Dayton Museum examples.

Artist page · Full biography in The Artist Archive

Einar Cortsen Petersen (1885 to 1986)

Documented forms

  • Einar C. Petersen (transcribed on Dry Dock, 1939, oil on canvas, signed lower left)
  • Einar (Westport Auction, May 2026, signed Einar and dated 55 or 53 lower right)
  • Einar Petersen (full name; recorded in the October 2026 research sweep; most catalogues say only 'signed' without transcription)
  • No catalogued, documented easel painting found signed with the surname PETERSEN alone

Placement

Lower left or lower right, with no strong preference. Lower left: Dry Dock (1939), Cotton Wood Trees in the Desert, California Landscape, Dry Dock San Pedro Harbor, Monterrey Harbor, Black Ivory. Lower right: Fishing Boats Los Angeles Harbor (1940), Harvest Time San Luis Obispo (1948), Coastal Landscape, Hangman's Creek (1914), Westport canvas, a c. 1929 gouache mural study. Homage to the Queen (1939) is signed on the reverse only. Murals were often unsigned; only one surviving Rosslyn Hotel panel (1915) was signed.

Medium

Painted in oil on the front; Black Ivory is signed in yellow paint. Reverse inscriptions are written on the canvas back (medium rarely specified in catalogues).

Dating clues

Frequently signed a second time on the reverse with a place specific title and often a date (e.g. 'Honolulu 1939' on Homage to the Queen). Some fronts carry a date beside the signature (Hangman's Creek, 1914; Westport canvas, 55 or 53). Documented dated works run from 1908 to the 1950s.

Authentication notes

A PETERSEN-only capital signature with no first name and no titled reverse departs from his documented practice and cannot distinguish him from other painters named Petersen; such works, including the shop's three landscapes, are catalogued as attributed. Check for: first name or initial in the signature; second signature, title or date on the verso; place specific title; comparison with an authenticated example of the same decade. Beware dealer errors: birth year 1895 and 'born Los Angeles' are wrong.

Artist page · Full biography in The Artist Archive

Erik Holland

Documented forms

  • Name signed in brush with a two digit year, e.g. the year reading 13 for 2013 (documented on the Viridian Eclection example)
  • Verso inscription in ink reading 'Artist Erik Holland' on the backing (documented on the Viridian Eclection example)

Placement

Lower left on the documented 2013 canvas; placement on other works not documented in published sources

Medium

Oil paint applied with the brush, in a color taken from the painting's own palette (pale blue on the 2013 example) rather than black; verso inscription in ink

Dating clues

  • Two digit year beside the signature should be read as the year of painting
  • Hand completed Aaron Brothers custom framing labels predate 2018, when the chain closed nearly all of its stores
  • Building portraits can be matched to identifiable structures and to dated series: Carson City and Comstock buildings by 2006, Austin and Ely series by 2014, Eureka series 2014
  • Exhibition labels from the Court House Gallery, Eureka (October 2014), Nevada Historical Society (January 2015) or Rinckel Mansion, Carson City (February 2017) fix a latest date

Authentication notes

Living, active artist with no published signature catalogue; the strongest authentication is provenance from the artist, his galleries or his documented shows. Work is oil, frequently heavy impasto worked wet into wet, consistent with plein air practice; studio pieces are larger. Not to be confused with other artists named Erik Holland; a Fine Art America profile under the name could not be confirmed as his.

Artist page · Full biography in The Artist Archive

Joseph Capecchi

Documented forms

  • "J. Jr. CAPECCH..." in capitals, final letters hidden under the frame lip (Viridian Eclection panel)

Placement

Lower left

Medium

Pale paint, applied with the brush in the same oil medium as the picture

Dating clues

  • Joseph Angelo Capecchi documented painting landscapes en plein air at Crooked Lake, Wisconsin in 1940 (family photograph)
  • Joseph Angelo painted extensively in retirement and into his eighties; died 26 January 1983
  • Joseph E. (Joe Jr.) born 18 September 1917, in military service 1941 to 1946, died 24 February 1983
  • Working date range for the shop panel: c. 1940 to 1970

Authentication notes

Surname is clear; initials are not resolved. Joseph Angelo Capecchi (1889 to 1983) is the documented family easel painter and the shop's attribution, but he was not a junior; the "Jr." points to his son Joseph E. Capecchi (1917 to 1983), a decorative painter and gilder with no documented easel paintings found. No published reference signature exists for either man and no auction records were found. Grandson Dr. Joseph G. Capecchi has painted since 2015 and should be excluded on date and initials. Best route to confirmation is comparison with works held by the Capecchi family (family archive site maintained by Dr. Joseph G. Capecchi).

Artist page · Full biography in The Artist Archive

Leandro Sirvent

Documented forms

  • Sirvent (surname alone; the form on market examples and on the Viridian Eclection panel)
  • Bihet (stated as a pseudonym of Sirvent in the Société des Arts du Canada, Montreal, catalogue 1893 to 1894; unconfirmed)
  • Perez (stated as a pseudonym of Sirvent in the same Montreal catalogue, for a horse subject; unconfirmed)

Placement

Varies between lower corners. Hôtel Drouot catalogues record 'signé à gauche' (4 to 5 Dec 1893, lot 21) and 'signé à droite, en bas' (1900, Dr. Mireur sale, lot 230).

Medium

Not recorded in period catalogues. Examine under magnification and UV light: a period signature should sit within the paint layer and share the surrounding craquelure.

Dating clues

No dated works recorded. Documented activity runs from the 1867 Salon to the 1900 Drouot sale; still lifes are documented in the trade from 1892 (chromolithographs after Sirvent) to 1900. Birth and death dates are unknown. Shop panel dated c. 1880 to 1900 on style and documented period of activity.

Authentication notes

Sirvent is a widespread surname in Alicante province, so a signature alone does not establish this painter; subject, handling, period and support should agree. Four compositions (Oranges; Melon et Huîtres; Panier de pêches; Pommes et Poires) were issued as chromolithographs by Borrel, printed by Richon, in 1892; check for printed grain and the absence of impasto. Works signed Bihet or Perez should not be attributed to Sirvent on the Montreal catalogue alone. Both Drouot lots were on canvas; the shop example is oil on wood panel.

Artist page · Full biography in The Artist Archive

Nasser Assar

Documented forms

  • "N.ASSAR" in capitals with a full stop after the initial, followed by a two digit year, e.g. "N.ASSAR 60", "N.ASSAR 65", "N.ASSAR 90", "N.ASSAR 97", "N.ASSAR 05" (catalogue raisonné entries)
  • "N.Assar 61" (Millon, 1961 oil on paper)
  • "NASSER ASSER /58" as catalogued by Christie's on the 1958 canvas L'Oiseau Persan, with title and the artist's address (11, Sq. Henry Paté 16e) on the reverse
  • "ASSAR" alone, lower right, on a canvas of c. 2010, dated by inscription on the stretcher
  • "N ASSAR 2004" lower right (Viridian Eclection panel, attributed)

Placement

Usually lower right; lower left occurs, chiefly in the early 1960s (1961 works sold by Millon, Briscadieu and Conan) and on a 1974 oil on paper

Medium

Painted with the brush in oil, in capitals, as part of the picture surface

Dating clues

  • Two digit year after the name in every dated example reviewed, including late works ("05" on a 2005 canvas)
  • Signs period c. 1955 to 1964: black calligraphic marks on grey, rose, green or ochre grounds
  • From 1964: branches, flowers and birds, then observed landscape (Var from winter 1967, Vaucluse from c. 1990)
  • Portraits of Isabelle Assar 1968 to 1979
  • Late canvases carry stock numbers on the reverse, e.g. "MN31" (1997) and "MN12 80P date: 2010"
  • Artist underwent major heart surgery in February 2004 and continued to paint

Authentication notes

The catalogue raisonné (nasserassar.com) is the reference authority and accepts submissions via an artwork information sheet requesting recto and verso photographs and close details of signature and labels. The shop panel's lower right placement fits Assar's habit, but its inscription as described lacks the full stop after N, uses a four digit year (every documented example uses two digits), and is on wood panel, a support not found among his catalogued oils (canvas and paper). Its calligraphic, branch like form also recalls the early 1960s more than his observed late Vaucluse landscapes. Presented as attributed pending catalogue raisonné review. Beware listings crediting "Assadour Nasser Assar": those etchings are by the Lebanese printmaker Assadour Bezdikian (b. 1943).

Artist page · Full biography in The Artist Archive

Ransome Gillet Holdredge (c. 1844 to 1899)

Signature of Ransome Gillet Holdredge

Documented forms

  • R G Holdredge
  • R. G. Holdredge

Placement

Lower edge of the canvas, as on the Viridian Eclection example.

Medium

Oil paint; red pigment on the Viridian Eclection example. Not yet established whether red was a consistent habit across his career.

Dating clues

Dated examples are recorded from 1868 and from 1874 to 1876. Clear, detailed Hudson River manner before 1874; soft, misty, gray tonal manner after his French period (c. 1875 to 1879). French subjects (Grez, Fontenay) belong to 1875 to 1879. He was in San Francisco until at least December 1874 and back in California by October 1879, so a French subject dated before 1875 warrants scrutiny.

Authentication notes

Signed works use the surname Holdredge, while period newspapers and some modern references use Holdridge; records also vary between Ransom/Ransome and Gillet/Gillette, so search all variants. Confirm the signature lies within the original paint film rather than over later varnish (UV examination). Compare subject and handling with the period implied by any date, and check stretcher and frame for labels linking to 1880s touring auction sales (C. P. Troy) or San Francisco dealers. Munich training, Bohemian Club founding and Tavernier collaboration claims are unsupported and should not be relied on in attribution.

Artist page · Full biography in The Artist Archive

Wayne Zavosky

Documented forms

  • Zavosky 79'

Placement

Lower right, small and upright, surname followed by a two-digit year on the same line.

Medium

Brushed in burnt umber, the same paint used for the figure, applied while the palette was in use.

Dating clues

Two-digit year with the apostrophe placed after the numerals (79') rather than before. Recorded on the one known signed canvas (1979); documented activity runs 1968 to 1983.

Authentication notes

Surname only, no first name or initial. Long leading stroke on the Z; open, angular second letter a that is easily misread as v or y (source of the 'Zyvosky' misreading); clear o-s-k-y with a looped descender on the final y. Based on a single signed work, so treat these as features of one signature until a second documented canvas is found. No public auction records exist under Zavosky or Zyvosky.

Artist page · Full biography in The Artist Archive

Help Build the Index

If you own a signed work by one of these artists, especially one with a dated inscription, a label or a different form of signature, we would like to see it. Send clear photographs of the front, the signature and the reverse through our contact page. Every contribution is checked and, where it holds up, added here with credit. More artists are added as our research continues; see the full Artists directory.