# Frank Paton artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/frank-paton/
Profile generated: 2026-08-19T17:40:21.016Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: British
- Common media: Painting, Illustration, Prints and reproduced images

## About Frank Paton

Frank Paton (1856–1909) was a British painter and illustrator associated with the visual culture of the Victorian and Edwardian periods. He is encountered most often through animal subjects, rural scenes, domestic narratives, and equestrian pictures. Art UK records works at the Walker Art Gallery, including Jewel, Dorothy, The Flirt, and several studies of mares and horses, while authority records identify him as both painter and illustrator. Paton also developed a print afterlife: reproductions of well-known compositions and a long sequence of Christmas-card designs carried his imagery beyond unique paintings. That mix explains why collectors may encounter his name on original paintings, works on paper, prints, cards, posters, plates, or later reproductions. Sources disagree on whether he was born in 1855 or 1856; this profile follows the 1856 date used by Art UK and several authority contributors while keeping the conflict visible.

## Common works and media

Works encountered in collection and appraisal contexts include original animal and equestrian paintings, rural scenes, works on paper, illustrations, prints, and printed Christmas cards. Collectors may also find posters, decorative plates, and other reproductions carrying Paton's compositions. These different object types should be identified separately because an original work, a period print, and a later reproduction do not provide equivalent appraisal evidence.

## Market and appraisal context

The public auction record for Frank Paton includes original fine art as well as printed and decorative material, so attribution and object type are essential when selecting comparisons. An original painting should not be benchmarked against a later poster, plate, card, or reproduction simply because the image or artist name matches. Useful comparisons align medium, dimensions, subject, date, condition, restoration, signature or inscriptions, provenance, exhibition or catalogue history, edition details, and attribution confidence. Animal and equestrian pictures should be compared with closely related compositions rather than an artist-wide median alone. Appraisily's public market page reports a broad observed range and incomplete feeds; its figures are descriptive, not price forecasts. Private sales, fees, changing attributions, and uneven cataloguing can limit direct comparisons.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist-identity research with matched public auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Record coverage may be incomplete, so conclusions should be checked against object-specific evidence.

## Sources

- Art UK: https://artuk.org/discover/artists/paton-frank-18561909
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/95819579/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500022458
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5488911
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Paton
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/frank-paton/