# Firmin-Girard artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/firmin-girard/
Profile generated: 2026-05-14T18:48:05.187Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1838-05-29
- Death date: 1921-01-08
- Nationality: French
- Movements: French academic painting, 19th century
- Common media: oil painting

## About Firmin-Girard

Marie-François Firmin-Girard (1838–1921) was a French painter who signed his work 'Firmin-Girard.' Born in 1838, he trained between 1854 and 1865 and was professionally active from at least the early 1860s through the turn of the century. He worked within the French academic painting tradition of the late nineteenth century. In recognition of his career, he was knighted to the Légion d'honneur in 1896. His works appear regularly at auction, and he is recorded in major library authority systems including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History. Collectors most often encounter his paintings through the European Old Master and 19th-century painting categories at major auction houses.

## Common works and media

Firmin-Girard is primarily known as an oil painter. Works most likely to appear in appraisal or auction contexts include finished easel paintings on canvas or panel, often signed 'Firmin-Girard.' Given his training period and active dates, subjects may include genre scenes, portraits, landscapes, and narrative compositions typical of French academic production in the second half of the nineteenth century. Collectors should also be aware that preparatory studies, oil sketches, and drawings may circulate alongside finished paintings.

## Market and appraisal context

Firmin-Girard's works come to auction with some regularity, with over 370 lots recorded in the Invaluable auction database. Valuation depends on factors common to nineteenth-century French academic painting: the subject matter and scale of the work, medium, provenance history, condition, and whether the painting is a signed, fully realized composition or a studio sketch. His Légion d'honneur distinction may contribute additional collector interest. No catalogue raisonné has been identified, so attribution and authenticity should be confirmed through expert review and documented provenance before appraisal.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from library authority systems and museum databases with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Firmin-Girard, identity data is grounded in the Wikidata, Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, and Bibliothèque nationale de France authority records, supplemented by auction-house and market-data signals from the Invaluable database.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3083556
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500004084
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/5203571/
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/28094
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr93023006