# George Goodwin Kilburne artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/george-goodwin-kilburne/
Profile generated: 2026-05-06T20:47:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1839-07-24
- Death date: 1924-06-21
- Nationality: English, British
- Movements: Victorian genre painting
- Common media: watercolour, oil paint, pencil, wood engraving

## About George Goodwin Kilburne

George Goodwin Kilburne (1839–1924) was an English genre painter and watercolourist best known for his meticulously rendered interior scenes populated with elegantly dressed figures. Born in Norfolk on 24 July 1839, he began his career as a wood-engraver before turning to painting and studying at the Royal Academy Schools in London. Kilburne exhibited widely at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (of which he was elected a member), and the Royal Society of British Artists. His favoured medium was watercolour, though he also produced oils, pencil drawings, and book illustrations. His work captured the social rituals and domestic settings of Victorian and Edwardian life with an exacting eye for architectural detail, costume, and furnishing. This combination of technical precision and picturesque subject matter made his paintings popular with Victorian collectors and reproduced widely in the illustrated press. Kilburne remained active from the mid-1850s through the early 1920s.

## Common works and media

Kilburne most commonly produced watercolours depicting domestic interiors with figures in period costume, including drawing-room scenes, garden parties, card games, music-making, and reading groups. He also painted sporting subjects such as horse racing and hunting scenes. His oeuvre includes oil paintings, pencil drawings, and wood engravings. As a book illustrator, he contributed to published volumes of poetry and literature. Watercolours and works on paper are encountered far more frequently at auction than oils. Kilburne did not produce editioned prints, though his illustrations were mechanically reproduced in books and periodicals.

## Market and appraisal context

George Goodwin Kilburne maintains an active and well-documented secondary market with 297 recorded auction lots (165 with realised prices) spanning from 1993 to May 2026. The artist is traded predominantly through established UK regional and London salerooms—Christie's, Bonhams, Sworders, Dreweatts, and Adam Partridge among them—with additional appearances at European (Adam's, Subarna Subastas), Australian (Christian McCann Auctions, Leonard Joel), and American (Broward Auction Gallery, Main Auction Galleries) houses. The price distribution is wide: the recorded minimum is £70 and the 25th percentile sits at £280, while the median is £620 and the 75th percentile reaches £1,500. A single outlier at £160,000 likely represents a major oil or large-scale exhibited work. Recent comparable watercolours (2024–2026) cluster between £150 and £1,000 GBP, with typical signed watercolours of interior scenes in the £200–£400 range. Oils, such as the equestrian portrait sold at Adam's in October 2025 (€900), and named figurative works like 'Edith and Florence' at Dreweatts (February 2025, £1,000 GBP), command the upper end of the recent range. Liquidity is moderate: 12 lots in the trailing 12 months versus 16 in the prior period, indicating a slight softening in volume but stable demand. The breadth of auction houses and the long 30+ year auction record provide a reliable comparable basis for appraisal.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

George Goodwin Kilburne maintains an active and well-documented secondary market with 297 recorded auction lots (165 with realised prices) spanning from 1993 to May 2026. The artist is traded predominantly through established UK regional and London salerooms—Christie's, Bonhams, Sworders, Dreweatts, and Adam Partridge among them—with additional appearances at European (Adam's, Subarna Subastas), Australian (Christian McCann Auctions, Leonard Joel), and American (Broward Auction Gallery, Main Auction Galleries) houses. The price distribution is wide: the recorded minimum is £70 and the 25th percentile sits at £280, while the median is £620 and the 75th percentile reaches £1,500. A single outlier at £160,000 likely represents a major oil or large-scale exhibited work. Recent comparable watercolours (2024–2026) cluster between £150 and £1,000 GBP, with typical signed watercolours of interior scenes in the £200–£400 range. Oils, such as the equestrian portrait sold at Adam's in October 2025 (€900), and named figurative works like 'Edith and Florence' at Dreweatts (February 2025, £1,000 GBP), command the upper end of the recent range. Liquidity is moderate: 12 lots in the trailing 12 months versus 16 in the prior period, indicating a slight softening in volume but stable demand. The breadth of auction houses and the long 30+ year auction record provide a reliable comparable basis for appraisal.

### Appraisal notes

An Appraisily appraisal of a Kilburne work would combine these auction records with the client's submitted photographs, measured dimensions, identified medium (watercolour, oil, pencil, or engraving), signature verification (Kilburne typically signed with his full name or initials), condition report (noting fading, foxing, or toning especially critical for watercolours), and any documented provenance or exhibition history. Comparable lots are selected by matching medium, subject, dimensions, and quality tier. The large dataset of 165 priced lots allows meaningful segmentation: watercolours of domestic interiors under 35 cm typically realise £150–£400, while larger or more elaborately composed examples, oils, and sporting subjects can reach £800–£1,500 or above. Works with Royal Academy or RI exhibition provenance may exceed these bands. The £160,000 ceiling represents an extreme outlier and should not anchor expectations for typical works. Attribution verification is important because Kilburne's popular domestic-interior genre was widely practiced by Victorian contemporaries.

### Valuation factors

- Medium: watercolours dominate the market and typically sell in the £200–£600 range; oils are less frequently encountered and generally command higher prices
- Subject matter: figurative interior scenes with period costume detail and sporting subjects (equestrian, hunting) attract the strongest buyer interest
- Dimensions: smaller works under 30 cm tend to sell below £300; larger compositions above 35 cm more often reach £500–£1,000
- Condition: watercolours are highly susceptible to fading, foxing, and toning; condition is a major value determinant
- Signature: signed works are preferred and more readily accepted at major houses; Kilburne typically signed with full name or initials
- Provenance: works with documented Royal Academy, RI, or RBA exhibition history, or gallery labels verso (e.g. Lapada), carry a premium
- Title and narrative content: named works with identifiable literary or historical subjects (e.g. 'Edith and Florence', 'The Proposal') tend to outperform generic interior scenes
- Auction house tier: prices realised at Christie's and Bonhams tend to exceed those at regional UK houses for comparable works

### Collector notes

- Kilburne works appear regularly at auction with roughly 12–16 lots offered per year, giving buyers reasonable opportunity to acquire examples. The median price near £620 GBP positions Kilburne as an accessible entry point for Victorian genre painting collectors. Watercolours of domestic interiors are the most available and affordable segment. Buyers seeking oils should expect to wait longer between offerings and pay a premium. When purchasing, verify the signature against known Kilburne examples and examine condition carefully—faded watercolours may be offered at lower estimates but are difficult to restore. The 25th-to-75th percentile spread (£280–£1,500) is wide for a single-artist market, reflecting meaningful quality and subject-matter differentiation. Works with exhibition labels or documented provenance are worth a premium at acquisition because they also command stronger resale results. Unsold rates in recent Sworders and Elstob offerings suggest that estimates above £500 for smaller watercolours may be ambitious unless the subject or provenance is exceptional.

### Market caveats

- The £160,000 maximum recorded price is a significant outlier relative to the £620 median; this figure likely represents a large or historically important oil and should not be used to value typical watercolours.
- Several recent lots at Sworders (May 2026), Elstob (June–July 2025), and R & R Auction (December 2024) show no price realised, indicating either unsold lots or results not yet reported. Unsold rates should be considered when estimating achievable value.
- Attribution risk: Kilburne's popular domestic-interior genre was widely imitated by Victorian contemporaries. Unsigned or questionably attributed works should be examined by a specialist.
- Death date is disputed between sources (RKD records 21 June 1924; Library of Congress records September 1924). Provenance claims citing either date should be cross-checked.
- Currency mix: recent lots are denominated in GBP, USD, EUR, and AUD. Cross-currency comparisons may obscure real price differences; all comparisons should be normalised to a single currency.
- Lot count decreased from 16 in the prior 12-month period to 12 in the most recent 12 months, a 25% decline that may indicate softening supply or shifting consignor confidence.

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/george-goodwin-kilburne/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-british-1839-1924-two-girls-in-a-garden-120-c-5d770b42cd
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-british-1839-1924-watercolour-confidences-signed-lower-right-18-5-x-26cm-framed-and-glazed-1656-c-21fed7e565
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-british-1839-1924-edith-and-florence-160-c-ebb457abec
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-1839-1924-equestrian-portrait-rider-with-red-jacket-oil-on-board-19-5-x-25cm-signed-lower-left-644-c-2b946f2892
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-1839-1924-the-recital-watercolour-17-5-x-11-cm-signed-lower-814-c-4a441fc95b
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-1839-1924-the-maid-of-the-inn-598-c-9f5467185d
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-british-1839-1-430-c-29341ac914
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-uk-1839-1924-oil-painting-antique-278-c-64843ada43
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-george-goodwin-kilburne-pytchley-vs-workwickshire-the-finial-of-the-hunt-cup-engraving-44-c-4f44c7c808

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from authority files and scholarly sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when available. For George Goodwin Kilburne, identity data is grounded in the Getty Union List of Artist Names, Library of Congress Name Authority File, RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History), and VIAF authority records. Auction and market observations draw from the Invaluable database of over 630 recorded lots attributed to this artist.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5539797
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Goodwin_Kilburne
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500014040
- VIAF / OCLC: https://viaf.org/viaf/95766975/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2009193875
- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/44332