# Harm Henrick Kamerlingh Onnes artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes/
Profile generated: 2026-05-10T12:21:26.419Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Dutch
- Common media: oil painting, watercolor, ceramics, etching, stained glass, mosaic, drawing

## About Harm Henrick Kamerlingh Onnes

Harm Henrick Kamerlingh Onnes (1893–1985) was a Dutch painter, ceramist, etcher, and stained-glass artist whose career spanned much of the twentieth century. Born in the Netherlands, he is best known for intimate, often humorous vignettes of everyday life and for his accomplished portrait work. Beyond easel painting, Kamerlingh Onnes was a prolific decorative artist: he designed postage stamps, created stained-glass windows, and produced ceramic pieces, mosaics, watercolors, and etchings. His versatility across fine and applied arts places him among the notable Dutch multimedia artists of his generation. Collectors encounter his work across a range of categories, from paintings and drawings to ceramics and prints. His long career and diverse output are documented by the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, and the Library of Congress.

## Common works and media

Common works include oil portraits and small genre paintings depicting humorous scenes of daily life, watercolor studies, etchings, and ceramic pieces. He also produced designs for Dutch postage stamps, stained-glass windows, and monumental mosaic installations. Drawings and decorative art objects may also appear in auction and appraisal contexts. Collectors should be aware that his output spans both unique fine-art works and applied-design commissions.

## Market and appraisal context

Harm Henrick Kamerlingh Onnes's auction footprint spans 37 lots tracked between September 2007 and September 2025, with 9 carrying a recorded price. The market is overwhelmingly Dutch-regional: Veilinghuis Van Spengen and Veilinghuis Onder de Boompjes account for the majority of offerings, supplemented by Vendu Rotterdam, Venduehuis Dickhaut Maastricht, and Zeeuws Veilinghuis. The sole international appearance is Christie's. Abell Auction (Los Angeles) is the only non-Dutch house in recent years, where two portraits of a seated woman sold for $450 and $600 in late 2023. Price dispersion is wide relative to the modest absolute values: the interquartile range runs from approximately €230 to €1,500, with a median around €450. The ceiling of €5,500 likely reflects a larger or more accomplished oil painting. Liquidity is thin — only one lot appeared in the trailing 12 months — so collectors should expect irregular turnover and limited comparable data for any single work type.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Harm Henrick Kamerlingh Onnes's auction footprint spans 37 lots tracked between September 2007 and September 2025, with 9 carrying a recorded price. The market is overwhelmingly Dutch-regional: Veilinghuis Van Spengen and Veilinghuis Onder de Boompjes account for the majority of offerings, supplemented by Vendu Rotterdam, Venduehuis Dickhaut Maastricht, and Zeeuws Veilinghuis. The sole international appearance is Christie's. Abell Auction (Los Angeles) is the only non-Dutch house in recent years, where two portraits of a seated woman sold for $450 and $600 in late 2023. Price dispersion is wide relative to the modest absolute values: the interquartile range runs from approximately €230 to €1,500, with a median around €450. The ceiling of €5,500 likely reflects a larger or more accomplished oil painting. Liquidity is thin — only one lot appeared in the trailing 12 months — so collectors should expect irregular turnover and limited comparable data for any single work type.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would use the 37 tracked lots — and especially the 9 priced results — as comparable-sale evidence, weighting them by recency, medium match, subject similarity, and auction-house tier. For a collector submitting photos, the appraisal process would cross-reference the work's medium (oil on canvas vs. oil on panel vs. ceramic), dimensions, signature style (full signature vs. monogram), subject matter (portrait, genre scene, landscape, still life, or decorative object), and condition against the closest priced comparables. The wide IQR (€230–€1,500) means that medium and size identification are critical inputs; a small ceramic bowl (€150) and a mature oil painting (€1,500+) occupy very different segments. Provenance documentation and RKD attribution verification are recommended given the breadth of the artist's output across fine and applied arts.

### Valuation factors

- Medium: oil paintings command the upper tier of the observed range; ceramics, watercolors, and mixed-media works tend toward the lower quartile
- Subject: portraits and figure scenes (the artist's most recognized genre) priced between $450–$600 at Abell Auction; genre scenes and coastal views realized €120–€355 at Dutch regional houses
- Size and support: lots described as 'oil on triplex' suggest smaller-scale works on panel, which may trade below larger canvas paintings
- Signature and monogram: many lots are described only as 'gemonogrammeerd' (monogrammed rather than fully signed), which can affect buyer confidence and price
- Condition: given the artist's long career (1893–1985) and the range of media, condition reports are especially important for ceramics and mixed-media works
- Provenance: attribution should be verified against RKD records (artist ID 43345), as the artist worked across painting, ceramics, glass, stamps, and prints
- Auction house tier: prices at Dutch regional houses tend to be lower than international results; a Christie's or Abell Auction provenance may signal a higher-quality work
- Currency mix: most results are in EUR from Dutch houses; the two Abell Auction results are in USD, making direct comparison require currency normalization

### Collector notes



### Market caveats

- Only 9 of 37 tracked lots have a recorded realized price; the majority pass without published results, which may indicate unsold lots or unpublished hammer prices
- The €5,500 maximum likely represents an outlier or a higher-quality work; the median (€450) is a more representative central tendency
- Liquidity is very thin: one lot in the most recent 12-month window and zero in the prior 12 months, making trend analysis unreliable
- Mixed currency results (EUR and USD) require normalization for direct comparison; exchange-rate timing may distort apparent price differences
- The artist worked across painting, ceramics, stained glass, mosaics, stamps, and prints; correct medium identification is essential and misattribution within the artist's own oeuvre is possible
- Christie's appears in the house list but no priced Christie's lot is visible in the recent sample, so international-tier price benchmarks are not available from this data

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-70-c-cf146948cf
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-portrait-of-a-seated-woman-76-c-c244aaeb44
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-portrait-of-a-seated-woman-57-c-e074a51af6
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-oil-on-triplex-cityscape-italy-monogrammed-b-r-dim-2-3862-c-e4947ee848
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-oil-on-1468-c-3484062932
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-spaanse-geliefden-op-dorpsplein-aan-de-kust-128-c-4d14e6bb07
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-strandgezicht-op-terschellin-84-c-c9542bb8a0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-zeezicht-gemengde-technie-83-c-034479bb11
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-harm-henrick-kamerlingh-onnes-1893-1985-kom-met-decor-van-fantasiedieren-geglazuurd-aardewer-1609-c-a324a8d8b5

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from authority files and museum databases with available auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots. For Harm Henrick Kamerlingh Onnes, identity data is sourced from the RKD, Getty ULAN, VIAF, Wikidata, and the Library of Congress. Market observations are general until matched with specific auction results.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2153888
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_Kamerlingh_Onnes
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500013505
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/50086557/
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/212882235/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n99257678
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/43345