# Joseph Raphael artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/joseph-raphael/
Profile generated: 2026-05-24T11:19:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1869-06-02
- Death date: 1950-12-11
- Nationality: American
- Movements: American Impressionism
- Common media: oil painting, watercolor, etching, engraving

## About Joseph Raphael

Joseph Morris Raphael (1869–1950) was an American Impressionist painter, watercolorist, and printmaker born in San Francisco, California. Though American by nationality, Raphael spent much of his professional life as an expatriate in Europe while remaining closely connected to the San Francisco Bay Area arts community. Active from the mid-1880s through the first half of the twentieth century, he worked across oil painting, watercolor, etching, and engraving. His style is associated with American Impressionism, and his prints and paintings reflect both European training and Californian sensibilities. Raphael's career coincided with a period of significant growth in American art collecting, and his work appears with regularity in auction and appraisal contexts today. Reference sources including the RKD, Getty ULAN, and VIAF document his identity, though some lexica list an alternate birth year of 1872 that appears to be an error.

## Common works and media

Raphael produced oils on canvas and panel, watercolors, etchings, and engravings. His subjects commonly reflect Impressionist concerns with light, landscape, and domestic or genre scenes. Print editions and etched plates may appear in appraisal contexts alongside original paintings. Works are typically signed with variants of his name, which cataloguers should cross-reference against the Getty ULAN and RKD records to avoid confusion with other artists surnamed Raphael.

## Market and appraisal context

Joseph Raphael's work appears at auction primarily in American Art and Impressionist & Modern Art sales, with prints and etchings also surfacing in Prints & Multiples categories. Collectors and appraisers should note the conflicting birth-year records (1869 versus 1872) when dating unsigned works, as misattribution to a different era can affect valuation. Oil paintings typically carry the strongest market interest, while etchings and watercolors provide more accessible entry points. Provenance research is important given the artist's expatriate career, which often produced transatlantic ownership histories. Condition, subject matter, and documented exhibition or publication history are standard valuation factors.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and scholarly references with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Joseph Raphael, identity data is grounded in the Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, and Wikidata authority records. Market observations are general and should be verified against current auction results before use in formal appraisals.

## Sources

- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/65624
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2135619
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/13384466/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500127817
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Raphael
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2003117268