In an article in the Kansas City Star, on April 18, 1909, Frank Ashford wrote a friend stating that he planned to tour Italy in search of inspiration. “He will also make a special study of French peasant types with a view of using them as the motifs of future effort. Apparently this is one of those French Peasant-style paintings.” This painting was located at the University of North Dakota archives. It states it is in very bad shape. According to their information, this is, a “Portrait of an old man and a child in old-fashioned clothing. Ashford’s painting, which was executed in Paris, appears to be a literary subject, perhaps related to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Prior to 2004, when the painting was removed from public display at UND, it suffered from both careless neglect and intentional abuse while hanging in a public hallway on campus. Still in serious need of restoration, it serves as the UND Art Collections unofficial “poster child” for artworks needing conservation.” It also states the painting was done in 1909, making it one of the oldest known Frank Ashford paintings on this website, and known about. This low resolution image does not reveal any signature, but there is something in the upper left hand corner. This is a very large canvas, 52″ x 65,” making it one of the biggest known. The painting was given to UND by John F. Douglas who was an alum (Class of 1896). Douglas donated another Ashford work, the Yellow Chrysanthemums, to Pomona College in Pasadena. Douglas worked for the Carnation Milk company and purchased several Ashford paintings. He was a big fan and friend of Ashford. He even tried to promote Ashford by writing him a press release to better promote himself and his distinctions. Ashford was very modest and probably never used the press release. (The image showing the damage is shown along side a digitally enhanced version).