An unknown artist's Portrait of an Unknown Gentleman (possibly William Craig) has been identified as a portrait by William Dring of Dr Wilfred Hall (1874–1952), MA, DSc, FRCS. Dr Hall was a former Chairman of Hall Bros, Newcastle and director of several Tyneside firms and philanthropic local institutions as well as Vice-Chairman of the University of Durham, who conferred on him his DSc for contributions to science. This included significant contributions in astronomy, undertaken as a keen amateur. It is thanks in part to his efforts in founding and supporting new building that Newcastle became a centre for academic excellence in the sciences.

Contributor: Elin Jones

This work listed as by an unknown artist in the Leicestershire County Council collection was identified by Donald Pass's nephew as one of his uncle's works from the 1960s. Pass worked in oil, watercolour and pastel, studying first at Stoke-on-Trent College of Art, 1947–1951, with Arthur Berry and Arnold Machin, then at the Royal Academy Schools, 1951–1954, under Henry Rushbury, William Dring and Gilbert Spencer.

Contributor: Richard Pass

Thanks to Kieran Owens' research, this is one of five works now collected under the new details for artist Gerald Cedric Hudson (1894–1966). Kieran gave us the sitter's dates and titles, followed by biographical details about the artist. This led us to delve into other works on Art UK attributed to other Gerald Hudsons. Thanks to Kieran and Alistair Brown, our volunteer, for documentary research and checking high-resolution images of the signatures, we were able to merge records for Gerald Hudson (no dates) and Gerald Hudson (active c.1918–1932), into a single record for Gerald Cedric Hudson (1894–1966). The five collections involved were, remarkably, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland!

Contributor: Kieran Owens

Formerly titled Soothsayer with a Skull, the subject is now correctly identified as a Franciscan monk in contemplation of the Bible. A signature, noted on the front left-hand side of the book, was identified as that of Charles Augustin Wauters (1811–1869), the first known work by the Belgian artist in a UK public collection.

Contributors: Alistair Brown and Jacinto Regalado

Another first for Art UK, this scene at a horse fair in the collection of Paisley Museum has been identified as a work by nineteenth-century Austrian artist Otto von Thoren. It had been catalogued as by 'W. O. Thoron', a misreading of the rather indistinct signature, which on closer inspection could be seen to be 'Thoren' and the date '74' made out. The original bequest listed the artist as 'A. J. Thoren' and a particularly close signature was sourced from a good high-resolution image at the Dorotheum, which along with examples of the artist's subject matter and further signatures available online, provided enough evidence for a firm attribution.

Contributor: Martin Hopkinson

As a result of a snippet from the digitised 1866 edition of Official Reports of debates in Parliament, further details were added to Art UK on the history of this mid-Channel quarantine ship and the conditions in it. Pieter van der Merwe, Art Detective Group Leader for Maritime Subjects, produced a substantial new entry for the painting for Art UK and the collection.

The hulk in question is the converted former 38-gun frigate 'Menelaus' which spent its last 60 years as a hospital and later quarantine ship, latterly opposite Binstead, Isle of Wight.

Fowles was an Isle of Wight painter operating in Ryde, who produced yachting and other local subjects.

Contributors: Jim Boyd and Pieter van der Merwe

Former attributions to Mrs Anne Mee (1765–1851), 'unknown artist' and 'F. van Donne', were overturned when the signature was confirmed in 2020 to be that of Frans van Dorne and the work dated to 1817–1818, during his period in Paris. This portrait is the first work by this Flemish pupil of Jacques-Louis David to be recorded on Art UK. Van Dorne was born and worked in Louvain, but trained in Paris under David, eventually returning to his homeland in 1822. A painter of portraits, religious subjects and still lifes, his work shows the influence of French Neoclassicism.

Contributors: Nick de Salis and Rodolph de Salis

Guillaume Evrard passed on an extremely helpful tweet by The Musée de Bretagne (Rennes) confirming that this charming streetscape is a view of Quimperlé, as shown in a postcard from their collection.

Contributor: Guillaume Evrard

Based on the recorded signature, 'L.F. Paggi', Tim Toman informed us that this painting must be by Luciano Francesco Paggi (1826–1903), born in Ancona, who was resident in Cardiff for a time. Kieran Owens subsequently provided further biographical details of this painter, described by one of his descendants as 'the Italian flautist, painter and revolutionary.' He was principally a flautist, and with his son and daughters, performed all over Britain as 'The Paggi Family'.

Contributor: Tim Toman and Kieran Owens