Same scene in different paintings.. fake? Pic imcluded

[mechanicalpencil]

Hello everyone,
Saw a painting we loved a while back and bought it..and since have been looking out for things by the same painter.
While on holiday in The Lakes came across another of his paintings, one we hadn’t seen before and bought it.
Have since noticed there is the exact same scene in both… a group of 5 people sitting at a table. The second one is a little blurrier but definitely the same scene which appears to have been “copied and pasted” in.

It seems a bit odd? Was wondering if it was a fake? Or maybe this is normal?!

Btw these aren’t expensive paintings!!

The people are exactly the same to me

I see five people who are the same. A group of three then another two who are to their left in the first picture and behind them in the second.

I thought the first one was an actual paining tbh but maybe not! It's not under glass.
The second one is definitely a print.

yes, that's right.

I'm 90% sure this is AI

The artist seems to have quite a large number of similar paintings, why do you think it's ai?

Because this is a classic AI technique. You take a starter image and then you get the AI to create versions of it in slightly different styles.

Also there's an arm sticking out of a table in the first image.

Last year they were worth 400k AND the people who run the studio aren’t even MacNeils! They’re Joyners!

Really? It's funny how people see things differently. To me they're different. And in different positions. There's a waiter in one place in one but not the other.

These pictures seem to pre date ai, unless there's a huge scale back story set up to sell relatively reasonably priced prints

I don't see the arm you mean, I can't see it in the full painting either, where is it?

Were looking at the 3 people sitting at the table only, the man in the dark jacket, the lady with the pony tail and the man with the white shirt. They are the same in each

Yeah, I see now those three are the same almost. So it must be a print or digital art where they copied and pasted it. Or used AI?

Thanks - pairing this with the bio from the studio website:

From the bio
Richard Macneil is a self taught artist - so no art college qualifications one could check
Born in Worcester in 1958 - no one of that name on the FreeBMD birth records database.
Richard spent many years in the USA where his company Bronn - see Porcelain Museum link below
Returning to Suckley, Worcestershire [✂️] In 2009 together with his [✂️] sons Daniel [✂️] - son's name and address matches Companies House officer and their home address.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07208300/officers
Officers are Daniel Joyner (born 1985) and Simon Joyner (born 1956). Both registered in Woodleigh, Suckley, Worcester. I presume father and son.

https://americanporcelainart.org/featured-artists/bronn/ Bronn was started by painter Simon Joyner and sculptor Brian Ormerod.

So I agree with @Superhansrantowindsor that Richard MacNeil does not exist. If there is an artist/business person behind it, his name is Simon Joyner.

I don't think the art is AI, as the limited company was incorporated in 2010. I was using Photoshop for work back then and creating this layered on a photo would have been fairly easy.

Sorry OP for shattering any illusions 😅

The white ponytail head seems stuck on backwards.

They don’t look like prints made from a painting; more likely they’re made by applying a digital filter to a photograph to make it look like it might have been painted. You can also collage in images from elsewhere (either your own or, if you’re unscrupulous, other peoples’). Or they could be AI - made by mining other artists’ work.
The guy (digitally) produces and sells products/ephemera not artworks; an artist’s print would state the medium of the original piece, which none of his do. He’s clearly doing well though, stocked by John Lewis no less.

Also, to match the bio, a Simon Joyner married a Judith (Judi?) Hussell in 1977, in Droitwich so not far from Worcester.

For those who can’t spot the same people..

And their website is dated from 2011 and looks like it is that old, I agree it's not original paintings but not AI either

Wow! Amazing detective work @Agapornis !

I swear I'm only slightly creepy 😂 open source/public domain doesn't count, right!

@Agapornis 😆 😆

OMG I can't unsee that table arm now! It makes it look like ponytail woman has her head on backwards. Very trippy. 🤣

I am trying desperately to see the arm sticking out of the table! And the head on backwards 😆

I see it!!!!!

@mechanicalpencil and the angles of the people are slightly different - think it’s normal for artists to do similar but different views. My Dad does!