Orfeo Tamburi Auction Prices and Value Guide

Orfeo Tamburi auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 804 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Orfeo Tamburi auction prices: quick answer

Orfeo Tamburi auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Orfeo Tamburi
Source records
804
Market update
2026-02-16

Orfeo Tamburi market snapshot

Orfeo Tamburi shows deep auction liquidity with 482 tracked lots. Median realized sale is around $250. Category concentration is still broad or sparse. Last 12 months recorded 51 sales. Latest recorded sale: 2026-02-11.

Realized price distribution

  • Under $1,000 (71.9% · 169 sales)
  • $1,000 to $10,000 (28.1% · 66 sales)
  • $10,000+ (0.0% · 0 sales)
Median sale (last 12 months)
$400
Sales recorded (last 12 months)
51
Median shift vs prior year
+17.6%
Latest recorded sale
2026-02-11

Artist context

About Orfeo Tamburi

Orfeo Tamburi (1910–1994) was an Italian painter, scenic designer, draftsman, and engraver whose career spanned more than five decades. Born on 28 May 1910, he was active from at least 1931 and worked in Paris during the mid-1930s before returning to Italy. Tamburi's practice encompassed oil painting, drawing, printmaking (including engraving and lithography), sculpture, and woodcarving, reflecting a versatility that placed him within Italy's twentieth-century figurative art currents. His work as a scenic designer connected him to the performing arts, adding a theatrical dimension to his output. The RKD records 125 documented works and references in major scholarly publications including Bénézit and Vollmer. Collectors today encounter Tamburi's work primarily through Italian and European auction houses.

oil paintingdrawingengravinglithography

Common works and media

Collectors are most likely to encounter Tamburi's oil paintings on canvas or panel, ink and pencil drawings, engraved prints, and lithographs. He also produced sculptures, woodcarvings, and scenic-design works for theatrical productions. His subject matter spans figurative compositions characteristic of mid-twentieth-century Italian art. Works range from unique paintings and drawings to editioned prints, so medium, edition size, and date are important identification factors.

Market and appraisal context

Orfeo Tamburi has an active and established secondary market. Appraisily's auction-record index documents 524 total lots, of which 258 carry recorded prices in EUR. The price distribution is heavily right-skewed: the median realized price is €280, the 25th percentile is €75, and the 75th percentile is €1,200, while the recorded maximum reaches €2,530,000—a figure that likely represents a major oil painting and sits far above typical results. Auction activity spans from May 1994 (shortly after the artist's death) through March 2026, with 52 lots offered in the most recent 12-month window compared to 43 in the prior 12-month period, indicating growing liquidity. The market is concentrated among Italian regional auction houses—Picenum, Casa d'Aste Babuino, Finarte Roma, ArtLaRosa, Bertolami Fine Art, Finarte, Casa d'aste ARCADIA, Felima Art Casa D'Aste, and Pananti Casa D'Aste SRL—with Christie's also appearing in the top-ten by lot count, confirming occasional international exposure. Recent priced lots (2025–2026) cluster in the €30–€1,600 range, with works titled 'Due studi,' 'Senza titolo,' and small-format drawings at the lower end, while titled paintings such as 'Donna sul divano, 1954' (€380) and 'Loterie Nationale, 1963' (€750) achieve mid-range prices. The strongest recent result was a Colasanti Casa d'Aste lot at €1,600 in November 2025. Works on paper and prints dominate the frequency of offerings; oil paintings, especially larger or earlier-dated examples, command higher prices.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • oil painting
  • drawing
  • print
  • engraving
  • lithography

Value drivers

  1. Medium and technique (painting, drawing, print, sculpture)
  2. Date and period of creation (spanning 1931–1986)
  3. Provenance and exhibition history
  4. Condition and attribution
  5. Medium: oil paintings command substantially more than drawings, prints, or works on paper
  6. Date and period: works from the Paris period (1935–1936) and early Italian production (1930s–1950s) tend to be more sought after

Appraisal caveats

  • Market data is drawn from auction records and biographical sources; no catalogue raisonné or estate authentication process is referenced in available sources.
  • The artist worked across many media over a long career (1931–1986), so appraisal should account for significant variation in style, medium, and date.
  • The recorded maximum price of €2,530,000 is an extreme outlier relative to the median of €280 and p75 of €1,200; this figure should not be treated as representative of typical results.
  • Auction categories are not consistently populated in the source records; category assignments above are inferred from lot titles and the artist's known mediums.

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Orfeo Tamburi

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Orfeo Tamburi worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Orfeo Tamburi artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.