# David Wilkie artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/david-wilkie/
Profile generated: 2026-05-02T06:35:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1785-11-18
- Death date: 1841-06-01
- Nationality: Scottish, British
- Movements: British genre painting
- Common media: oil painting

## About David Wilkie

Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841) was a Scottish painter celebrated for his vivid genre scenes, historical compositions, and formal portraits, including commissions for the British royal family. Born in Cults, Fife, he trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London, where he established his career and became closely associated with the Royal Academy of Arts. Wilkie earned the popular epithet "the people's painter" for his observational scenes of everyday Scottish and English life. In the later phase of his career he traveled extensively through Europe and the Middle East, producing a distinct body of Orientalist and travel-inspired work. He died aboard the S.S. Oriental off Gibraltar on 1 June 1841 while returning from his first trip to the Middle East. With 1,264 works recorded in auction databases, Wilkie remains one of the most frequently encountered Scottish painters in the secondary art market.

## Common works and media

Wilkie's most commonly encountered works in auction and appraisal contexts include oil genre scenes of rural Scottish and English life, historical narrative paintings, formal portraits (including members of the British royal family), and watercolor or oil studies from his Continental and Middle Eastern travels. Collectors may also find preparatory sketches, engraved reproductions after his compositions, and prints. His genre paintings of village life and cottage interiors are among the most frequently listed categories.

## Market and appraisal context

Sir David Wilkie's secondary-market footprint spans 42 recorded lots across international and regional auction houses between 2007 and late 2024, with 17 lots carrying realized prices. The price distribution is wide: from €20 (Art-Rite, 2024, a print or small work titled "Reading the Will") to £12,000 (Dreweatts, 2022, for a named portrait "Mrs Moore"). The median sits at roughly $600, with the interquartile range between $175 and $1,750, indicating that most attributed works trade at accessible levels while securely attributed portraits or genre compositions can reach five figures. Auction activity is scattered rather than concentrated: no lots were recorded in the most recent 12-month window, and only one appeared in the prior 12 months, suggesting thin current liquidity. Lots have appeared at houses ranging from Christie's to regional German (Auktionshaus Stahl, Hargesheimer, Henry's, Rotherbaum), Italian (Casa d'Aste Babuino, Accademia Fine Art), Australian (Theodore Bruce), and US regional firms (Broward, Austin Auction, Elite Auctioneers, J Levine). Eternity Gallery listed the same "Scottish soldiers" oil repeatedly across 2015–2018 without recorded prices, which may indicate unsold reserves or relistings. Several lots carry attribution qualifiers ("attr.", "attrib.") rather than firm attribution, a recurring pattern for this artist.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Sir David Wilkie's secondary-market footprint spans 42 recorded lots across international and regional auction houses between 2007 and late 2024, with 17 lots carrying realized prices. The price distribution is wide: from €20 (Art-Rite, 2024, a print or small work titled "Reading the Will") to £12,000 (Dreweatts, 2022, for a named portrait "Mrs Moore"). The median sits at roughly $600, with the interquartile range between $175 and $1,750, indicating that most attributed works trade at accessible levels while securely attributed portraits or genre compositions can reach five figures. Auction activity is scattered rather than concentrated: no lots were recorded in the most recent 12-month window, and only one appeared in the prior 12 months, suggesting thin current liquidity. Lots have appeared at houses ranging from Christie's to regional German (Auktionshaus Stahl, Hargesheimer, Henry's, Rotherbaum), Italian (Casa d'Aste Babuino, Accademia Fine Art), Australian (Theodore Bruce), and US regional firms (Broward, Austin Auction, Elite Auctioneers, J Levine). Eternity Gallery listed the same "Scottish soldiers" oil repeatedly across 2015–2018 without recorded prices, which may indicate unsold reserves or relistings. Several lots carry attribution qualifiers ("attr.", "attrib.") rather than firm attribution, a recurring pattern for this artist.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would combine these auction records with client-submitted photographs, measured dimensions, medium identification, signature examination, condition report, and documented provenance to develop an appraisal. Key steps include: (1) confirming attribution — many circulating works are workshop copies, follower pieces, or misattributed, so catalogue raisonné or museum consultation is essential; (2) locating comparable lots among the 17 priced records, adjusted for medium (oil on canvas commands more than watercolor, print, or drawing), subject (genre scenes and named portraits are stronger than attributed studies), and size; (3) applying condition and provenance adjustments — a work with royal or exhibition provenance can exceed the current $12,000 ceiling significantly; and (4) noting that the thin recent activity (zero lots in the trailing 12 months) means comparables may be 2–5 years old and require market-trend adjustments. Currency conversion between GBP, EUR, and USD lots must also be normalized.

### Valuation factors

- Attribution confidence: many lots carry qualifiers like "attr." or "attrib."; securely attributed works trade at a substantial premium over studio or follower pieces
- Subject and period: early genre scenes of Scottish village life and named-sitter portraits command the strongest prices; Middle Eastern travel studies and minor sketches trade lower
- Medium: oil on canvas is the primary value category; watercolors, pencil drawings, and lithographs typically sell below $200–$600
- Size and scale: larger exhibition-scale canvases are rare and would likely exceed the observed price range; most recorded lots are cabinet-size or smaller
- Provenance: works with documented exhibition history, royal-collection provenance, or early-19th-century literary references carry premium significance
- Condition: age-appropriate craquelure, relining, or inpainting are common in early-19th-century oils and affect value proportionally
- Market liquidity: auction activity is irregular with no lots in the trailing 12 months; sellers should expect longer marketing periods

### Collector notes

- Collectors considering a David Wilkie work should request a formal condition report and attribution assessment before purchase, given the high volume of attributed-but-not-confirmed lots observed at auction. The price floor is low (under $200 for watercolors and prints, around €20 for small works on paper), but securely attributed oil genre paintings cluster around $600–$1,750, and strong portraits can reach £12,000 or more. The same work ("Scottish soldiers" oil) was relisted by Eternity Gallery at least five times between 2015 and 2018 without a recorded sale, suggesting that reserve pricing or attribution concerns can stall liquidity. Buyers should be wary of lots lacking firm provenance or those listed only with attribution qualifiers. For sellers, pairing a work with a scholarly authentication letter or documented provenance can materially improve its auction result. The presence of Christie's among observed houses indicates that top-tier works can access premier sale venues when attribution and provenance are strong.

### Market caveats

- Of 42 recorded lots, only 17 carry realized prices (approximately 40%); the remainder may be unsold, withdrawn, or have unreported outcomes, making price statistics directional rather than comprehensive.
- Several lots carry attribution qualifiers ("attr.", "attrib.") rather than firm attribution, which means some recorded prices may reflect studio, follower, or copy works rather than Wilkie's own hand.
- The same work ("Scottish soldiers" oil painting) appears repeatedly from Eternity Gallery across 2015–2018 without a recorded price, which may indicate relisting without sale and could skew lot-count figures.
- No lots were recorded in the most recent 12-month period, and only one in the prior 12 months, so current market appetite is difficult to assess.
- Currency mix (USD, EUR, GBP) means that reported price statistics require normalization; the $12,000 maximum reflects a £12,000 GBP lot converted at an approximate rate.
- Appraisily auction signals are derived from public auction-feed aggregators and may not capture private sales, dealer transactions, or results from houses not covered by those feeds.

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/david-wilkie/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-wilkie-us-scotland-1785-1841-oil-painting-antique-227-c-d604490b2f
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-wilkie-us-scotland-1785-1841-oil-painting-antique-241-c-5fa4ee7b3e
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-david-wilkie-us-scotland-1785-1841-oil-painting-antique-249-c-22344be8db

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum records, library authority files, and biographical sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Sir David Wilkie, identity data is grounded in records from the Tate, the Library of Congress, the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), and Wikidata.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q902759
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wilkie_(artist)
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85342493
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/84547
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-david-wilkie-600
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/32265939/