# Ary Scheffer artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/ary-scheffer/ Profile generated: 2026-05-09T22:23:50.403Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Nationality: Dutch, French - Movements: Romanticism - Common media: oil painting, sculpture, illustration ## About Ary Scheffer Ary Scheffer (1795–1858) was a Dutch-born painter and sculptor who became one of the leading artistic figures of the French Romantic movement. Active in Paris for most of his career, Scheffer built his reputation on paintings drawn from literature—especially the works of Dante, Goethe, Lord Byron, and Walter Scott—as well as moving religious compositions such as his widely reproduced Christ Consolator. He was equally in demand as a portraitist, capturing the likenesses of prominent cultural and political figures of his day. His appointment as drawing instructor to the children of King Louis Philippe I gave him entrée to the highest levels of French society and sustained his prominence until the Revolution of 1848 reshaped the political landscape. Scholars at the RKD have documented his role as an illustrator and his connections to Dordrecht, the city of his birth. Contemporaries called him "le peintre poète"—the poet painter—reflecting the literary sensibility at the heart of his practice. ## Common works and media Scheffer is most commonly encountered in appraisal contexts as an oil painter. His literary scenes—particularly episodes from Goethe's Faust and Dante's Divine Comedy—were widely exhibited and replicated. Religious paintings such as Christ Consolator and Christ Remunerator exist in multiple versions. Portraits of notable sitters form a substantial portion of his output. He also produced sculptures and illustration work, though these appear less frequently on the market. Drawings, studies, and prints after his compositions also circulate at auction. ## Market and appraisal context Ary Scheffer maintains a consistent secondary-market presence across European and North American auction houses, with 88 recorded lots and 45 priced results in the Appraisily dataset spanning from 1995 to April 2026. The price distribution is wide: the interquartile range runs from €600 to €10,000, with a median of €3,750, while the recorded maximum reaches €265,000. Five lots appeared in the most recent 12-month period (May 2025–April 2026), matching the same volume in the prior 12 months, indicating steady rather than surging liquidity. Major houses including Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams, and Tajan have offered Scheffer works, lending institutional credibility to the market. Literary and religious subjects command the strongest prices: Sotheby's sold a Paolo and Francesca for $50,400 in February 2025, and Bonhams realized £15,000 each for two Faust-themed oils in December 2021. At the lower end, minor portraits, landscape sketches, and works attributed to Scheffer's circle or described as 'after' the artist trade in the low hundreds. This dispersion reflects the wide quality and attribution spectrum that characterizes the Scheffer market, where prime literary compositions are an order of magnitude more valuable than workshop pieces or lesser portraits. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Ary Scheffer maintains a consistent secondary-market presence across European and North American auction houses, with 88 recorded lots and 45 priced results in the Appraisily dataset spanning from 1995 to April 2026. The price distribution is wide: the interquartile range runs from €600 to €10,000, with a median of €3,750, while the recorded maximum reaches €265,000. Five lots appeared in the most recent 12-month period (May 2025–April 2026), matching the same volume in the prior 12 months, indicating steady rather than surging liquidity. Major houses including Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams, and Tajan have offered Scheffer works, lending institutional credibility to the market. Literary and religious subjects command the strongest prices: Sotheby's sold a Paolo and Francesca for $50,400 in February 2025, and Bonhams realized £15,000 each for two Faust-themed oils in December 2021. At the lower end, minor portraits, landscape sketches, and works attributed to Scheffer's circle or described as 'after' the artist trade in the low hundreds. This dispersion reflects the wide quality and attribution spectrum that characterizes the Scheffer market, where prime literary compositions are an order of magnitude more valuable than workshop pieces or lesser portraits. ### Appraisal notes An Appraisily appraisal of a work attributed to Ary Scheffer would draw on this auction-record dataset as a comparable-sales anchor. The appraiser would weigh the work's subject matter (literary or religious scenes align with the upper price tier; minor portraits and landscapes with the lower tier), medium and dimensions (large oil-on-canvas compositions versus small watercolour studies or drawings), signature and inscriptions, condition report, and documented provenance. Because Scheffer repeated popular compositions in multiple autograph versions, establishing whether a work is a prime version, a studio replica, or a follower copy is central to placement within the €600–€265,000 range. Provenance connecting the work to a named Salon exhibition, to Scheffer's royal-circle patrons, or to a distinguished collection would support a higher valuation. The appraiser would also note whether the lot history includes results from major houses (Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams), which tend to carry stronger attribution confidence than regional sales. Photographs, dimensional data, and medium confirmation are essential inputs alongside the comparable-lot evidence presented here. ### Valuation factors - Subject matter: literary scenes (Faust, Dante, Byron) and religious compositions (Christ Consolator) command the highest prices; minor portraits and landscapes trade significantly lower - Attribution quality: prime autograph works by Scheffer himself are far more valuable than studio replicas, follower copies, or works described as 'after' Scheffer—the title 'Marguerite Portrait Painting after Ary Scheffer' (Hill Auction, 2022, $200) illustrates the floor for circle works - Version precedence: Scheffer produced multiple versions of popular compositions; establishing a prime version versus a later replica can shift value by an order of magnitude - Provenance and exhibition history: documented Salon exhibition or royal-circle provenance materially increases value - Medium and scale: large oil-on-canvas compositions dominate the upper price tier; watercolours, drawings, and small-format works cluster below €1,000 - Auction-house tier: results from Sotheby's, Christie's, and Bonhams carry higher attribution confidence and price levels than regional houses - Condition: 19th-century Romantic works are sensitive to craquelure, relining history, and overpaint; condition reports should be reviewed before valuation - Market liquidity: approximately 5 lots per year in recent periods indicates moderate but reliable liquidity—sufficient for comparable analysis but not a high-frequency market ### Collector notes - If you own or are considering purchasing a work attributed to Ary Scheffer, the single most important step is confirming attribution. The dataset shows that works described as prime versions of literary subjects (Faust, Paolo and Francesca) can realize €10,000–€50,000 or more at major houses, while studio works, circle pieces, and minor portraits routinely sell below €1,000. Before consigning or insuring, obtain a condition report and, where possible, compare your work against documented versions in the RKD scholarly bibliography to determine whether it is a prime version or a known replica. Works with Salon exhibition labels, royal-collection stamps, or published provenance carry a meaningful premium. The market is steady rather than speculative—expect reasonable but not rapid resale timelines, with the strongest results at London and Paris salesrooms. ### Market caveats - Of 88 recorded lots, only 45 have published price-realised data; the full price distribution may differ once unsold and unpublished results are accounted for. - The maximum recorded price (€265,000) may represent a single exceptional lot and should not be treated as a typical ceiling without verifying the specific work's attributes. - Several recent lots lack realised-price data (noted as null), making it impossible to confirm whether they sold or were bought in. - Attribution risk is significant: the dataset includes at least one lot explicitly described as 'after Ary Scheffer,' and many regional-house lots carry minimal catalogue notes. Buyers should verify attribution independently. - Scheffer's workshop produced numerous replicas and variants of his most popular compositions; catalogue descriptions alone may not distinguish prime versions without specialist examination. - Prices span multiple currencies (EUR, USD, GBP, AUD); direct comparison requires currency normalisation at the relevant sale date. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/ary-scheffer/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ary-scheffer-dordrecht-1795-1858-argenteuil-la-veuve-du-soldat-92-c-c5e4b426a6 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-marguerite-portrait-painting-after-ary-scheffer-183-c-5914029865 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ary-scheffer-dutch-1795-1858-faust-at-the-sabbath-237-c-584416eafe ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine structured artist-identity research from authority files and scholarly sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, medium, and comparable-lot data when those records are available. The auction and market observations on this page are drawn from the Appraisily/Invaluable dataset and should be supplemented with professional appraisal for valuation decisions. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q436726 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ary_Scheffer - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/2478799/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84100030 - RKD (Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/70240