Eugene de Blaas Oil on Panel Portrait Signed Dated 1894

Portrait of a young woman signed by Eugene de Blaas dated 1894. It is oil on panel, 12-5/8″ x 10-1/2″ sight, 17″ x 14-3/4″ framed. The 1890s were the high period for de Blaas, and admittedly there were artists that faked his work, even including faking his signature. I have asked several experts regarding authenticity and there is no real agreement. To me it seems unusual that someone would forge an artist’s signature in his lifetime, and de Blaas lived until 1932. The style of signing along the side of the painting rather than along the bottom is not unusual in paintings by de Blaas in which there is general agreement on the authenticity. I don’t know whether this work is by Eugene de Blaas, but I think it probably is.