My artist life partner had a good laugh when she found out that our male friend is waiting for a handyman to have her painting hanged as if driving nail into a wall was some sort of job for skilled professional.
How expensive is the painting? Does your male friend have a stud finder or know common building measurements to locate a stud? If there's no stud did he buy the right wall anchor to support the weight? I'm saying most of this in jest, but sometimes simple jobs are anything but.
My life partner is not a famous painter (yet :-)). I guess the painting was worth pretty much the same as the canvas it was painted on since you could paint the canvas over (apart from sentimental value of course, which wasn't that high too since she gave the painting away as a present).
Our friends house is not light frame construction, hence no studs (I guess it was build of something along the lines of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclaved_aerated_concrete ). Also the painting is frameless so pretty light so it should be sufficiently supported by a single nail (although at our home my partner prefers to hang them on wall plugs. She's overcautious with a lot of things).
I assure you that our friend was deservedly laughed at by us (and only by us, we are nice people) and we respect him all the same.
