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Thanks Guy, that’s a good idea.  I’ll follow that up.
Regards Carolyn.

Hello,  I am completely new to this forum and not sure how it all works but I have registered and am responding to your post due to the following reasons :  My mother has a painting which belonged to my father and has been treasured through the years as a family heirloom.  The story always being that it was painted by a relative of my father.  On recent enquiry my mother confirmed that the artist was my father’s, mother’s uncle.  I tried to decipher the signature which was ‘Something’ Mallett. The first initial was not clear to me so I tried to look up any artist by the name of Mallett from that period.  I came across Robert Mallet and on closer inspection of some of his paintings displayed online, there was a very close resemblance to the painting and the signature on the picture hanging on my mother’s wall.  Please see attached.  I am now fairly convinced that the painting is an original oil on canvass by Robert Mallett. We believe the title was of Costessyey Mill in Norfolk. There may be evidence of this on the back of the painting but we cannot verify this yet,  as the painting was reframed during the 1970’s by a reputable restorers in Leicester and has a backing sheet covering the original.  Naturally, I don’t want to interfere with this unless it is necessary or helpful to any further investigation. 
I am not sure what to do from this point in view of proving provenance or authenticity.  Perhaps you could advise me on how to proceed.  I am happy to answer any further questions if I am able to and look forward to hearing from you in this respect.  Regards, Carolyn Williams.
P.s.  I am having difficulty attaching a photo of the painting in question, but will try and add this in a separate post.