Everything you need to know about using SignatureFinder
SignatureFinder is available as an installable web app (PWA). It works just like a native app - with an icon on your home screen and offline support.
Android: Tap the menu and select "Install app"
iOS: Tap Share, then "Add to Home Screen"
The web app provides the full SignatureFinder experience optimized for your device, with the same database of 394,000+ artists.
SignatureFinder can find the name of an artist when only a part of the name is readable.
You can input parts of an artist's name, limit by countries, time period and see what artist names come up - that's it, there are no further functions.
SignatureFinder helps you identify unknown artist signatures by matching partial name patterns against our database of over 394,000 artists.
SignatureFinder is built and maintained by Nick Brandt (www.nbrandt.com).
Yes, SignatureFinder is completely free as of this writing. If you found SignatureFinder useful, we would not mind a cup of coffee though!
You can find the donation option in the footer of every page.
The wildcard buttons help you create flexible search patterns:
fran* finds "Franz", "Francisco", "Francois"?an finds "Dan", "Ian", "Jan"bo__[desc] finds "bobby", "boggy"p[asc]ter finds "peter"Filters artists who were alive during that period. If you set 1850-1950, you'll see artists whose lifespans overlap with those years.
Click "Continents & Countries" to expand country options. Select multiple countries to filter results.
Use radio buttons below the year slider to include or exclude artists with missing dates.
Some artists have dual nationality (like "US/FR") shown as multiple flag icons.
Our database combines information from multiple art historical sources. Sometimes the same artist appears multiple times with different information (birth dates, countries, etc.).
Yes, there are several websites and forums that deal with art that you can search for online. You can also visit a local auction house or art dealer.
For technical questions about using the search functionality, please use our contact form.
If you found SignatureFinder useful, we would appreciate your support