# Charles Conder artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/charles-conder/
Profile generated: 2026-05-18T20:03:24.449Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1868-10-24
- Death date: 1909-02-09
- Nationality: English, Australian
- Movements: Heidelberg School
- Common media: oil painting, lithography, fan design (painted silk fans), etching

## About Charles Conder

Charles Edward Conder (1868–1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer, and designer who became one of the most celebrated figures in Australian art history. Emigrating to Australia as a young man, Conder joined the Heidelberg School alongside Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, and Frederick McCubbin — a circle now widely regarded as the foundation of a distinctively Australian tradition in Western painting. His Australian landscapes, painted en plein air around Melbourne, remain icons of the movement. Conder later returned to Europe, settling in Paris and London, where he produced refined silk fan designs, lithographs, and decorative works influenced by Aesthetic and fin-de-siècle tastes. His career was cut short by ill health; he died in 1909 at the age of forty. Today Conder is represented in major public collections including Tate, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Rijksmuseum, and his work is catalogued in the Bénézit and standard British artist dictionaries.

## Common works and media

Conder's most commonly encountered works include oil-on-canvas landscape paintings from his Australian Heidelberg School period, painted silk fans featuring pastoral and allegorical scenes, lithographs and etchings produced during his European career, and watercolours and works on paper. Decorative designs and painted panels also appear in auction contexts. Collectors may find a range from major gallery-scale paintings to smaller works on paper and printed multiples.

## Market and appraisal context

Charles Conder's work appears regularly at auction in both Australian and European markets, with over 300 lots documented in public sale records. Oil paintings from his Heidelberg School period are the most sought-after category, followed by his decorative painted silk fans and lithographic works. Key valuation factors include whether a work dates from the influential Australian period or the later European phase, the quality of provenance, condition relative to age, and exhibition history. Attribution can be nuanced given Conder's range across painting, printmaking, and decorative art. Collectors should consult comparable realized prices from major auction houses and verify authenticity through established catalogue references.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine independent artist-identity research from museum, library-authority, and scholarly sources with auction-house sale records, lot descriptions, realized prices, and comparable sale data when available. For Charles Conder, identity data is grounded in the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute, Tate, Wikidata, and the Library of Congress authority file.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1284465
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Conder
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500001048
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/76588572/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n91005539
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/1209
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/charles-conder-934
- RKD Netherlands Institute: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/17926