Alfred de Bréanski Sr. Painting, ca. 1900
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APPRAISER:
You brought a beautiful Victorian painting by Alfred de Bréanski.
GUEST:
It was my grandparents'. I believe they bought it in England in the '40s and it hung in their home for about 40 years and then in the early '80s, my father got it.
APPRAISER:
Uh-huh. And so you always knew this in the family house.
GUEST:
Yes, it's a treasure that they had.
APPRAISER:
Now it's yours.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Well, do you know much about the artist?
GUEST:
I don't know anything about the artist. I had assumed that he was maybe Polish or something.
APPRAISER:
Alfred de Bréanski was a great Scottish Victorian artist. And he did almost exclusively these views of the Scottish countryside, the lochs and the hills, generally at sunset, with the cattle watering down there. And the great thing about him is his ability to capture the light, the sunset, and you see that through here in the painting. Since he does the same paintings almost over and over again, it's the quality of the light that you look for, and you have really one of the best ones I've seen in a long time.
GUEST:
Oh, good.
APPRAISER:
A couple of other things that are very typical of his work are on the back. I wanted to show you that. And, also, it helps to prove the authenticity of this work. Right on the back it says, "The Head of Loch Lomond," one of the most important, famous lochs in Scotland. And then it says Alfred de Bréanski, Sr. This is a very typical thing of the Scottish academy. Almost every Scottish Victorian artist puts where it is on the back. They put "Head of Loch Lomond." When you see a de Bréanski, you almost always know where it is. Another thing you have is a Windsor Newton. It's a manufacturer of canvas. You can see the original canvas here. They stamped it. And the third thing is that it was sold by Harrod's, the famous department store in Knightsbridge.
GUEST:
Right, right.
APPRAISER:
Did they ever tell you what they paid for it? Do you know what value might be on it?
GUEST:
No, we never discussed it. They had two of the same size, and my aunt has the other painting, but I never had any idea what the value was.
APPRAISER:
These a few years ago, they weren't all that valuable. They were $4,000 or $5,000, but they've recently skyrocketed in value. And a painting like this right now, this quality and this size of de Bréanski, would be worth about $25,000 to $35,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
They're really... it's a really fabulous example of his work.
GUEST:
Wow.
Appraisal Details
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