# John Butler Yeats artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/john-butler-yeats/
Profile generated: 2026-05-18T20:30:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Death date: 1922-02-03
- Nationality: Irish
- Common media: oil painting, works on paper

## About John Butler Yeats

John Butler Yeats (1839–1922) was an Irish portrait painter and a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. Born in Tullylish, Northern Ireland, he trained as a lawyer before turning to art, studying at Heatherley's School of Fine Art in London. He is best known for his oil portraits and works on paper of leading cultural figures of his era. The National Gallery of Ireland holds a number of his portraits, including a well-known 1900 likeness of his son, the poet William Butler Yeats. Yeats was the patriarch of one of Ireland's most prominent artistic families: his children included the poet W. B. Yeats, the painter Jack Butler Yeats, and the craftswomen and publishers Lily and Lollie Yeats. He spent his later years in New York City, where he died in 1922.

## Common works and media

Oil portraits on canvas, charcoal and pencil drawings, and watercolour works on paper are the formats most likely to be encountered at auction or in appraisal contexts. Subjects include cultural and literary figures, family members, and self-portraits. Works are typically modest in scale compared to academic history painting of the period.

## Market and appraisal context

John Butler Yeats's work appears at auction primarily as oil portraits and drawings. Value is influenced by the identity of the sitter—portraits of literary or cultural figures from the Irish Revival period tend to be more sought after—as well as medium, condition, and documented provenance. His market profile is distinct from that of his son Jack B. Yeats, whose paintings command significantly higher prices; attribution should be confirmed carefully. References in Bénézit and Johnson/Greutzner support scholarly identity, and RKD maintains a documented record of his oeuvre. Comparable auction results for Irish portrait painters of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries provide useful context for appraisal.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine structured artist-identity research from authority files and museum records with auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For John Butler Yeats, identity data is grounded in Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, and Library of Congress authority files, supplemented by biographical information from Wikipedia and the National Gallery of Ireland collection record.

## Sources

- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/85934
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2356757
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/17394443/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500016889
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50014257
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Butler_Yeats