# Albert Anker artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/albert-anker/
Profile generated: 2026-05-02T10:21:38.581Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1831-04-01
- Death date: 1910-07-16
- Nationality: Swiss
- Movements: Genre painting
- Common media: Oil on canvas, Watercolor, Drawing, Illustration

## About Albert Anker

Albert Anker (1831–1910) was a Swiss painter, illustrator, and watercolorist widely regarded as Switzerland's national painter for his enduring depictions of 19th-century Swiss rural and village life. Born and later based in the municipality of Ins, Anker studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and briefly at the Académie Colarossi, absorbing French academic technique while remaining devoted to distinctly Swiss subject matter. His carefully composed genre scenes—children at lessons, village gatherings, quiet domestic interiors, and still lifes—combine Realist observation with an idealized warmth that made them immensely popular during his lifetime and beyond. Active from roughly 1851 until his death in 1910, Anker also produced illustrations and served in Swiss political life. His work is held in major Swiss museum collections, and his name remains a reference point for Swiss cultural identity in the visual arts.

## Common works and media

Anker's most frequently encountered works at auction are oil-on-canvas genre paintings depicting Swiss rural life—children reading or writing, village schoolrooms, family meals, and seasonal farm activities. Still-life compositions, often featuring arranged objects with meticulous detail, form another significant category. Watercolors and ink drawings, including preparatory studies and illustration work, appear regularly but at lower price levels. Plateel (faience) painting is also recorded among his activities. Collectors may also encounter Anker's illustrations from published editions. Signed works with clear provenance and catalogue raisonné numbers are the most desirable.

## Market and appraisal context

Albert Anker commands a deep and well-established secondary market with 510 auction lots recorded in the Appraisily index dating from 2004 through March 2026, of which 312 carry realized prices. The price distribution is wide: the median sits at CHF 18,240, the 75th percentile at CHF 72,000, and the top-end reaches CHF 2,625,000, indicating that premier oil-on-canvas genre scenes can achieve seven-figure results. At the same time, the 25th percentile (CHF 2,500) and a floor of CHF 200 reflect the regular circulation of minor works on paper, studio copies, and attributions. The market is concentrated in Swiss houses—Koller Auctions leads in volume, followed by Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer—though Sotheby's and Christie's also appear, confirming international blue-chip interest. Recent top results include CHF 500,000 (Artcurial BBW, March 2026), CHF 240,000 (Koller, November 2025), and CHF 220,000 (Koller, November 2024), suggesting that the upper tier has remained active and stable. Liquidity has moderated slightly: 17 priced lots in the trailing 12 months versus 31 in the prior period, which may reflect consignment timing rather than demand softening given the strong individual prices achieved.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Albert Anker commands a deep and well-established secondary market with 510 auction lots recorded in the Appraisily index dating from 2004 through March 2026, of which 312 carry realized prices. The price distribution is wide: the median sits at CHF 18,240, the 75th percentile at CHF 72,000, and the top-end reaches CHF 2,625,000, indicating that premier oil-on-canvas genre scenes can achieve seven-figure results. At the same time, the 25th percentile (CHF 2,500) and a floor of CHF 200 reflect the regular circulation of minor works on paper, studio copies, and attributions. The market is concentrated in Swiss houses—Koller Auctions leads in volume, followed by Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer—though Sotheby's and Christie's also appear, confirming international blue-chip interest. Recent top results include CHF 500,000 (Artcurial BBW, March 2026), CHF 240,000 (Koller, November 2025), and CHF 220,000 (Koller, November 2024), suggesting that the upper tier has remained active and stable. Liquidity has moderated slightly: 17 priced lots in the trailing 12 months versus 31 in the prior period, which may reflect consignment timing rather than demand softening given the strong individual prices achieved.

### Appraisal notes

An Appraisily appraisal of an Albert Anker work would use these 312 priced auction comparables as the quantitative anchor, filtered by medium (oil on canvas vs. watercolor vs. drawing), dimensions, subject matter (children and village genre scenes command the strongest premiums), date of execution, and condition. The wide price spread (CHF 200–2,625,000) means that surface-level artist-name matching is insufficient—appraisal accuracy depends on situating the specific work within the correct tier. Large oil genre paintings with catalogue raisonné documentation and clear provenance would reference the CHF 100,000–500,000+ band; smaller oils and well-attributed watercolors the CHF 4,000–44,000 mid-range; and minor works on paper, copies, or attributed pieces the sub-CHF 2,500 range. The appraiser would supplement comparables with photographs of the work, signature verification, condition report, provenance documentation, exhibition history, and any catalogue raisonné entry to arrive at a defensible fair-market or replacement value.

### Valuation factors

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### Collector notes

- Albert Anker's market is one of the most liquid and predictable in Swiss 19th-century painting, with over 500 auction appearances in two decades and consistent demand from Swiss institutional and private collectors. If you are considering buying, prioritize fully attributed oil-on-canvas genre scenes with catalogue raisonné numbers—these hold value best and are easiest to resell through Koller or Artcurial BBW. Be cautious with unsigned or 'after' lots, which regularly sell below CHF 2,000 and may be difficult to re-attribute. If you own an Anker and are considering sale, Swiss houses (particularly Koller) offer the deepest buyer pool, but international consignment to Sotheby's or Christie's can be worthwhile for important works above CHF 200,000. The slight dip in lot volume (31 to 17 year-over-year) does not indicate weakness—individual prices at the top end remain strong. Always verify authenticity through the RKD catalogue entry before committing significant sums.

### Market caveats

- Prices in the source pack are denominated in both CHF and EUR; the CHF 200–2,625,000 range should be interpreted with currency context in mind. The EUR 200 floor lot at Derksen Veilingbedrijf is an outlier in currency and venue.
- Seven of the 24 most recent lots show null priceRealised (bought-in or post-sale results pending), which means the actual sell-through rate is lower than the raw lot count suggests.
- One recent lot is explicitly titled 'after' Albert Anker, indicating it is a copy rather than an original; such lots should be excluded from comparable analysis for original works.
- The Appraisily auction-record index aggregates public feed data and may not capture every private sale or house-internal result; actual market breadth may be wider.
- Anker's prolific output over six decades means attribution quality varies significantly; some lots may be workshop, follower, or misattributed works trading under his name.
- No category tags were attached to individual lots in this source pack; medium and subject classification are inferred from existing profile data and general art-historical knowledge of the artist.

### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/albert-anker/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- Invaluable / Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-1831-1910-225-c-a1599520e5
- Invaluable / Koller Auctions: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-3016-c-d629e02aed
- Invaluable / Koller Auctions: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-3006-c-97342d6bb0
- Invaluable / Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-1831-1910-20-c-0da4a7c9b6
- Invaluable / Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-1831-1910-16-c-f234d86b0a
- Invaluable / Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-1831-1910-17-c-e32485ea04
- Invaluable / Koller Auctions: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-3013-c-f71d0b1209
- Invaluable / Galerie Moenius: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-1831-1910-after-453-c-5183984eb1
- Invaluable / Derksen Veilingbedrijf: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-albert-anker-1270-c-e634aaf8ab

## Appraisily data basis

This Appraisily artist page combines Albert Anker's verified identity data from library authority files and art-history databases with public auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot results when available. Biographical facts are grounded in the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, the Library of Congress Name Authority File, and Wikidata entity records. Market observations draw on the accumulated auction lot data that Appraisily aggregates from public sale sources.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/1928
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82070670
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q72510
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Anker
- VIAF / OCLC: https://viaf.org/viaf/14778781/