# Alfred de Bréanski artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/alfred-de-breanski/
Profile generated: 2026-05-02T13:33:16.016Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: British
- Movements: Victorian landscape painting
- Common media: oil painting, watercolour

## About Alfred de Bréanski

Alfred de Bréanski (1852–1928) was a British landscape painter and watercolourist active during the late Victorian era. Born in Greenwich, England, to a Polish immigrant family, he became known for his atmospheric depictions of the British countryside, particularly Highland and Welsh scenery. Bréanski exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Artists, establishing a reputation among Victorian collectors for richly toned, naturalistic landscapes. He married the Welsh artist Annie Roberts, and their son, Alfred Fontville de Bréanski, also pursued a career as a landscape painter. The family connection creates a common area of attribution complexity in the secondary market. Bréanski's work remains widely encountered at auction, with over a thousand recorded sales, reflecting sustained collector interest in traditional British landscape painting of the period.

## Common works and media

Bréanski's auction record spans oil paintings on canvas and board as well as watercolours on paper. Typical subjects include Highland cattle landscapes, Scottish loch and mountain views, Welsh valley scenes, river and pastoral compositions, and occasional genre pictures. Works range from small cabinet-size panels to larger exhibition-scale canvases. Collectors most frequently encounter unsigned or indistinctly signed works that require attribution care, as the similarity between father's and son's styles can complicate identification.

## Market and appraisal context

Alfred de Bréanski maintains a well-established secondary market with 59 documented auction lots spanning two decades (2005–2025). Of those, 38 carry realized prices, producing a median of £6,000 equivalent and an interquartile range of approximately £2,800–£10,800. The ceiling is materially higher: a Christie's New York sale in April 2012 reached $37,500, and a Christie's London sale in December 2011 realized £18,750. At the other end, smaller or less-attributed works have sold for as little as £500–£800. Liquidity is moderate but steady, with 1–2 priced lots appearing in each of the last two 12-month windows. Sales are dispersed across major international houses (Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams) and regional specialists (Heritage Auctions, Adam's, Neumeister, Auktionshaus Stahl, Dallas Auction Gallery), indicating broad demand rather than reliance on a single venue. The breadth of houses and the long date range together signal durable collector interest in Victorian British landscape painting.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Alfred de Bréanski maintains a well-established secondary market with 59 documented auction lots spanning two decades (2005–2025). Of those, 38 carry realized prices, producing a median of £6,000 equivalent and an interquartile range of approximately £2,800–£10,800. The ceiling is materially higher: a Christie's New York sale in April 2012 reached $37,500, and a Christie's London sale in December 2011 realized £18,750. At the other end, smaller or less-attributed works have sold for as little as £500–£800. Liquidity is moderate but steady, with 1–2 priced lots appearing in each of the last two 12-month windows. Sales are dispersed across major international houses (Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams) and regional specialists (Heritage Auctions, Adam's, Neumeister, Auktionshaus Stahl, Dallas Auction Gallery), indicating broad demand rather than reliance on a single venue. The breadth of houses and the long date range together signal durable collector interest in Victorian British landscape painting.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would combine these auction records with the collector's photographs, measured dimensions, medium identification (oil on canvas, oil on board, or watercolour on paper), signature clarity and placement, verso inscriptions, condition report, and any documented provenance. Comparable lots are selected from the priced subset by matching medium, size bracket, subject (Highland cattle, Scottish loch, Welsh valley, Thames, Irish landscape), and auction-house tier. Because attribution confusion with Alfred Fontville de Bréanski is a known risk, the appraisal process flags any unsigned or ambiguously signed work for specialist review before finalising a value range. The price distribution here (P25–P75 spread of roughly 4×) reflects real variation in size, quality, and provenance, so a single estimate without lot-specific matching would be unreliable.

### Valuation factors

- Attribution: distinguish works by Alfred de Bréanski Sr. (1852–1928) from those by his son Alfred Fontville de Bréanski; both painted similar Highland and Welsh subjects, and the son's works typically trade at lower price points
- Medium: oil paintings on canvas dominate the higher end of the price range; watercolours and works on board generally trade lower
- Size: the recorded lots range from small cabinet panels to exhibition-scale canvases (e.g., 60.5 × 91.5 cm); larger works with strong composition consistently outperform
- Subject: Highland cattle landscapes, Scottish loch views, and Welsh valley scenes are the most frequently encountered subjects; iconic views (Loch Fyne, Tay near Dunkeld, Gap of Dunloe) appear among the higher-priced comparables
- Condition: Victorian oil paintings over 100 years old commonly exhibit craquelure, relining, or inpainting; condition materially affects value
- Provenance: works with Royal Academy exhibition histories, gallery labels (e.g., Roberts Art Gallery, Toronto), or documented provenance command premiums
- Signature: signed and dated works (e.g., 'Signed & Dated 1894') provide stronger attribution confidence; unsigned works require specialist verification

### Collector notes

- Price range is wide: documented sales span from approximately £500 for small or uncertain-attribution works up to $37,500 for large, well-provenanced oils at Christie's. Expect most mid-size signed oils to fall in the £3,000–£10,000 band.
- Buying at regional auction houses (Heritage, Adam's, Neumeister) can offer value relative to Christie's or Sotheby's prices, but attribution scrutiny is essential—always verify the signature matches the senior Bréanski's hand.
- The low recent volume (1 lot per year in each of the last two 12-month windows) suggests works are not flooding the market, which can support price stability for quality pieces.
- Subjects with identifiable locations (Loch Fyne, Dolgelly, Gap of Dunloe, Windsor Castle, Thames at Cookham) tend to be more searchable and may attract stronger competition from collectors specialising in British topographical landscapes.
- Verso inscriptions and old gallery labels add provenance value—preserve them when reframing.
- When selling, consigning through a house that regularly handles 19th-century British paintings (Christie's, Bonhams, Sotheby's, Heritage) maximises exposure to the relevant buyer pool.

### Market caveats

- No catalogue raisonné exists for Alfred de Bréanski, making definitive attribution difficult; the similarity between the father's and son's styles is a well-documented source of misattribution in the secondary market
- Auction prices are drawn from the Appraisily database of 59 lots (38 priced); this is a substantial but not exhaustive sample and may not capture every sale, especially at smaller regional houses
- Prices span multiple currencies (GBP, USD, EUR, ZAR); currency conversion is not applied in the raw data, so direct numeric comparison across currencies requires adjustment
- Several recent lots (Bonhams September 2025, Neumeister June 2021 and December 2020, Christie's December 2013) lack realized prices, which may indicate unsold lots or post-sale private negotiations not reflected in the data
- The ZAR 9,000 price for the 5th Avenue Auctioneers lot (July 2019) is in South African Rand; when converted to GBP or USD it represents a significantly lower figure than the nominal number suggests
- Condition reports are not available in the source data; actual values depend heavily on the physical condition of each individual work

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/alfred-de-breanski/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-alfred-de-breanski-british-1852-1928-the-mill-tail-at-hedsor-wharf-near-cookham-on-the-thames-19-c-e46455e8f3

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from authority files and institutional sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Alfred de Bréanski, identity data is grounded in the Library of Congress Name Authority File, Wikidata, RKD, and VIAF authority records. Market observations draw from the volume of documented auction activity in the Appraisily database.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21288422
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nb2010030634
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/12208
- VIAF / OCLC: https://viaf.org/viaf/96572828/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500120873