# Guido Reni artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/guido-reni/ Profile generated: 2026-05-02T10:02:26.263Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1575-11-04 - Death date: 1642-08-18 - Nationality: Italian - Movements: Baroque, Bolognese School, Classicism - Common media: oil painting, fresco, etching, drawing ## About Guido Reni Guido Reni (1575–1642) was an Italian painter and draftsman born and active primarily in Bologna, with significant periods of work in Rome and Naples. A dominant figure in the Bolognese School that developed under the Carracci, Reni became one of the most sought-after painters of the early seventeenth century. His compositions blend Baroque emotional intensity with a classical grace that drew comparisons to Nicolas Poussin and Philippe de Champaigne. Reni produced religious, mythological, and allegorical works across oil painting, fresco, etching, and drawing, and he served as a court and decorative painter for major ecclesiastical and secular patrons. Collectors encounter his paintings in leading museum collections and on the international Old Master market. ## Common works and media Oil paintings on canvas and panel (altarpieces, devotional images, mythological scenes), palace and church fresco cycles, red-chalk and pen-and-ink drawings, and etchings. Frequently depicted subjects include the Madonna and Child, the Crucifixion, St. Sebastian, the Penitent Magdalene, Apollo, Atalanta, Hercules, and allegorical female figures. ## Market and appraisal context Guido Reni maintains an active and deep international auction market spanning over 25 years of recorded sales. The Appraisily auction index tracks 370 lots attributed to Reni, his workshop, or his circle, of which 215 carry realized prices. Major auction houses regularly offering Reni-related material include Christie's, Sotheby's, Dorotheum, Hampel Fine Art Auctions, Cambi Casa d'Aste, and Swann Auction Galleries. The price distribution is exceptionally wide—from $50 for posthumous engravings and decorative copies to $10.1 million for fully attributed oil paintings—reflecting the range of attribution tiers from autograph works down to later copies and reproductive prints. The interquartile range ($500–$6,000) captures the majority of workshop, circle, and after-Reni material, while the median of $1,400 reflects the large volume of reproductive works and minor attributions. Autograph drawings by Reni sold recently at Christie's for €10,160 (March 2026, black-chalk head study) and $9,525 (February 2026, pen-and-brown-ink Assumption of the Virgin). Workshop paintings commanded significantly higher prices: a Sleeping Cupid from the workshop sold at Casa d'aste ARCADIA for €30,000, and a Reni-and-assistants painting fetched €32,000 at Bertolami Fine Art (both March 2026). Liquidity is healthy and stable, with 40 lots appearing in the most recent 12 months compared to 44 in the prior period, indicating a consistent flow of material to market. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Guido Reni maintains an active and deep international auction market spanning over 25 years of recorded sales. The Appraisily auction index tracks 370 lots attributed to Reni, his workshop, or his circle, of which 215 carry realized prices. Major auction houses regularly offering Reni-related material include Christie's, Sotheby's, Dorotheum, Hampel Fine Art Auctions, Cambi Casa d'Aste, and Swann Auction Galleries. The price distribution is exceptionally wide—from $50 for posthumous engravings and decorative copies to $10.1 million for fully attributed oil paintings—reflecting the range of attribution tiers from autograph works down to later copies and reproductive prints. The interquartile range ($500–$6,000) captures the majority of workshop, circle, and after-Reni material, while the median of $1,400 reflects the large volume of reproductive works and minor attributions. Autograph drawings by Reni sold recently at Christie's for €10,160 (March 2026, black-chalk head study) and $9,525 (February 2026, pen-and-brown-ink Assumption of the Virgin). Workshop paintings commanded significantly higher prices: a Sleeping Cupid from the workshop sold at Casa d'aste ARCADIA for €30,000, and a Reni-and-assistants painting fetched €32,000 at Bertolami Fine Art (both March 2026). Liquidity is healthy and stable, with 40 lots appearing in the most recent 12 months compared to 44 in the prior period, indicating a consistent flow of material to market. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily uses auction-record evidence from the indexed 370 lots to establish a comparable-sales baseline, then adjusts for the specific attributes of the item being appraised. For a Guido Reni work, the critical adjustment factors are attribution tier (autograph vs. workshop vs. circle vs. copy after), medium (oil painting vs. drawing vs. etching vs. decorative reproduction), dimensions, subject matter (religious and mythological subjects dominate), condition report, provenance chain, and any scholarly catalogue references such as the Reni catalogue raisonné. Photographs and signature analysis help determine where the work falls on the attribution spectrum, which is the single most consequential factor: the gap between a securely attributed Reni painting and a workshop or follower work can be orders of magnitude. The auction record shows that fully attributed oil paintings can reach multi-million dollar results, while workshop paintings cluster in the tens of thousands and copies or reproductive engravings typically fall below $5,000. ### Valuation factors - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - The $10.1 million maximum reflects a single outlier sale; the vast majority of Reni-attributed lots sell below $10,000. The median is $1,400, and the interquartile range is $500–$6,000. Do not assume high-value comparables apply to typical workshop or copy material. - Attribution is the dominant risk factor. Reni ran a large workshop, and the auction record includes many lots described as 'after,' 'circle of,' 'school of,' 'bottega,' 'copia da,' or 'workshop of.' These attributions carry materially different values than autograph works. - Many recent lots in the record are decorative objects (porcelain plaques, engravings) depicting Reni compositions rather than original artworks by Reni. These are not directly comparable to paintings or drawings. - Price data spans multiple currencies (USD, EUR, GBP). Currency conversion timing affects comparability across sales. - The Appraisily auction index reflects lots offered under the Guido Reni keyword and may include misattributed or loosely associated material. Individual lot research is essential. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/guido-reni/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-guido-reni-bologne-1575-1642-tete-d-un-homme-barbu-pierre-noire-mis-a-14-c-dd63baf29b - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-guido-reni-bologna-1575-1642-the-assumption-of-the-virgin-pen-and-brown-20-c-441182bb58 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-guido-reni-e-aiuti-bologna-1575-1642-55-c-f001456abd - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-guido-reni-workshop-of-bologna-1575-bologna-1642-sleeping-cupid-116-c-7b62894ad3 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-guido-reni-71-c-a584226bac - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-guido-reni-1575-bologna-1642-ebenda-schule-des-979-c-168cc47873 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ecole-italienne-du-xviie-siecle-suiveur-de-guido-reni-99-c-b0ec79220f ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files, museum records, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q109061 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_Reni - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80021717 - RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/66290 - VIAF / OCLC: https://viaf.org/viaf/49288294/ - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500030334