# Hubert von Herkomer artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/hubert-von-herkomer/ Profile generated: 2026-05-04T19:25:06.483Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1849-05-26 - Death date: 1914-03-31 - Nationality: German, British - Movements: Victorian Realism, British Social Realism - Common media: oil painting, etching, graphic art, drawing, woodcarving ## About Hubert von Herkomer Sir Hubert von Herkomer (1849–1914) was a Bavarian-born painter, printmaker, filmmaker, and composer who became one of the most prominent Victorian-era artists working in Britain. Born in Waal, Bavaria, his family settled in England during the 1850s. Herkomer first gained wide recognition for socially conscious realist paintings such as Hard Times, which depicted the hardships of rural labourers with an unflinching directness that set him apart from his contemporaries. He later built a formidable reputation as a portraitist, painting many of the leading figures of his day. Beyond painting, Herkomer was a prolific etcher and graphic artist, a pioneer of early British cinema, and a published composer. He was knighted and, in 1899, ennobled by Kaiser Wilhelm II. His work is held by major institutions including Tate and is documented in the RKD and Library of Congress authority files. ## Common works and media Herkomer produced oil paintings (portraits and narrative scenes), etchings, graphic prints, drawings, and woodcarvings. His most recognised paintings include Hard Times and a substantial body of commissioned portraits of public figures. Etched plates and engraved illustrations after his designs also appear frequently at auction. Later in life he directed short films and composed music, though these outputs are less commonly encountered in appraisal contexts. ## Market and appraisal context Hubert von Herkomer maintains a consistent but modest presence at auction, with 124 documented lots spanning 2007–2025 across houses in the UK, Continental Europe, and North America. Of those lots, 31 carry a realised price, yielding a price distribution of roughly $10–$15,000 with a median of $175 and an interquartile range of $50–$583. The distribution is right-skewed: the bulk of turnover comes from etchings and graphic works that frequently trade below $100, while identified oil portraits occasionally reach four figures. The strongest recent result is £4,000 for Portrait of Robert Lewis at Dreweatts (February 2025), demonstrating that named-sitter portraits by Herkomer still attract meaningful bidding. A Poster Auctions International result of $11,000 for a 1935 Normandie travel poster likely reflects poster-market collectibility rather than Herkomer's fine-art premiums. Liquidity is thin: only 2 lots appeared in the most recent 12 months compared with 5 in the prior 12 months, suggesting limited but steady supply rather than active demand pressure. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Hubert von Herkomer maintains a consistent but modest presence at auction, with 124 documented lots spanning 2007–2025 across houses in the UK, Continental Europe, and North America. Of those lots, 31 carry a realised price, yielding a price distribution of roughly $10–$15,000 with a median of $175 and an interquartile range of $50–$583. The distribution is right-skewed: the bulk of turnover comes from etchings and graphic works that frequently trade below $100, while identified oil portraits occasionally reach four figures. The strongest recent result is £4,000 for Portrait of Robert Lewis at Dreweatts (February 2025), demonstrating that named-sitter portraits by Herkomer still attract meaningful bidding. A Poster Auctions International result of $11,000 for a 1935 Normandie travel poster likely reflects poster-market collectibility rather than Herkomer's fine-art premiums. Liquidity is thin: only 2 lots appeared in the most recent 12 months compared with 5 in the prior 12 months, suggesting limited but steady supply rather than active demand pressure. ### Appraisal notes When appraising a Herkomer work, Appraisily would combine these auction records with photographs of the work, measured dimensions, confirmed medium (oil on canvas vs etching vs watercolour), signature location and style, condition report (including any restoration or foxing for works on paper), documented provenance chain, and any edition details for prints. Comparable lots are drawn from the 31 priced records, filtered by medium and subject: oil portraits of identified sitters are benchmarked against the Dreweatts and Viscontea results, while etchings reference the East Coast Books and Weschler's price points. Attribution should be confirmed against institutional records (Tate, RKD) since several lots are listed as 'attributed' and no catalogue raisonné is available. ### Valuation factors - Medium is the primary price driver: oil paintings of identified sitters consistently outperform etchings and graphic works, which typically trade below $200 - Sitter identity matters: named portraits (e.g., Portrait of Robert Lewis at £4,000) command substantially more than anonymous or generic subject portraits (e.g., Portrait of a Man at $325) - Social-realist narrative scenes such as Hard Times carry art-historical significance and may attract premium bidding over routine commissioned portraits - Condition is especially critical for works on paper (etchings, drawings), where foxing, toning, or trimming can materially reduce value - Provenance linking a work to Herkomer's Bushey studio or to a notable Victorian collection adds collector confidence and can support higher estimates - Attribution status affects value sharply: lots described as 'attributed to' or 'after' Herkomer trade at a steep discount to firmly signed and documented works ### Collector notes - Etchings appear most frequently at auction (especially through East Coast Books) and can often be acquired for under $100, making them an accessible entry point for Herkomer collectors - Oil portraits represent the strongest value tier; focus on works where the sitter is identified and the painting is signed and dated for maximum resale potential - Be cautious with attribution: at least one recent lot (Roseberys, July 2023) was listed as 'attributed' with uncertain medium—request condition reports and provenance documentation before bidding - The poster result ($11,000 at Poster Auctions International) reflects the vintage-poster market and should not be used as a benchmark for original Herkomer paintings or prints - UK auction houses (Dreweatts, Olympia Auctions, Roseberys) handle the highest-quality Herkomer lots; Continental and North American houses tend to list lower-value etchings and attributed works ### Market caveats - Only 25% of documented lots (31 of 124) carry a realised price, so the full price distribution may differ from what is observed; unsold lots are not distinguished from pre-sale estimates - The $15,000 maximum in the aggregate statistics and the $11,000 Normandie poster result reflect poster-collectible pricing, not Herkomer fine-art values; the highest confirmed fine-art result in the recent sample is £4,000 for an oil portrait - No dedicated catalogue raisonné exists; attribution should be cross-checked against Tate, RKD, and published scholarship before relying on auction comparables for appraisal - Lot counts have declined from 5 in the prior 12-month window to 2 in the most recent 12 months, which may indicate thinning supply rather than reduced demand - Herkomer's dual German-British identity means works may surface in both UK and Continental European salerooms, so monitoring German and Dutch houses (Henry's Auktionshaus, Veilinghuis Van Spengen, Hampel) alongside British houses is advisable ### Market evidence sources - Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/hubert-von-herkomer/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-hubert-von-herkomer-british-1849-1914-away-away-35-c-98045f3857 - Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-hubert-von-herkomer-german-1849-1914-disgruntled-pubgoers-etching-signed-lc-frame-13-x-18-1-2-in-33-x-47-cm-174-c-31842c565b ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine published artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Hubert von Herkomer, this page draws on Tate's artist record, the RKD artist database, VIAF, Library of Congress authority data, Wikidata, and the artist's Wikipedia entry. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q644595 - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/77115718/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n83022711 - Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-hubert-von-herkomer-571 - RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/37767 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_von_Herkomer