# Julius Bien artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/julius-bien/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T15:52:31.382Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1826-09-27
- Death date: 1909-12-21
- Nationality: German-American
- Common media: Lithography, Printmaking, Cartographic printing and maps, Painting

## Portrait

![Julius Bien](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/George_Da_Maduro_Peixotto_-_Julius_Bien_-_NPG.77.159_-_National_Portrait_Gallery.jpg)
George da Maduro Peixotto · Public domain
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Da_Maduro_Peixotto_-_Julius_Bien_-_NPG.77.159_-_National_Portrait_Gallery.jpg

## About Julius Bien

Julius Bien was a German-American lithographer whose career belongs to the nineteenth-century world of commercial, reproductive, and cartographic printmaking. Public authority records identify him primarily as a lithographer and printmaker, while Getty-linked authority data also classifies him as a cartographer and painter active in the United States. Collectors frequently encounter his name in connection with printed works, maps, and natural-history imagery. His best-known publishing association is the lithographed edition of John James Audubon's The Birds of America commonly called the Bien edition. That connection gives his name particular relevance in searches involving Audubon plates, although individual objects still require careful identification. Bien was also a prominent German-Jewish American communal figure and served for many years as president of B'nai B'rith. Because authority files conflict over his birth year, Appraisily uses 1826 as the better-corroborated date while preserving that discrepancy in the research record.

## Common works and media

Works encountered under Julius Bien's name are most commonly lithographs and other printed material. Authority records also associate him with cartography, making maps and cartographic prints relevant appraisal categories. Collectors may additionally encounter bird and natural-history plates connected with the Bien lithographed edition of Audubon's The Birds of America. A smaller or less clearly documented group may be catalogued as paintings or other original works, reflecting the broader occupational description found in authority data.

## Market and appraisal context

Julius Bien's auction market can include ordinary lithographs, cartographic material, and plates associated with the Bien edition of Audubon's The Birds of America. Appraisal should begin by identifying the object type and determining whether it is an original period print, another work connected with Bien, or a later reproduction. A map should be compared with similar cartographic material, while an Audubon-related plate requires comparables from the same publication context rather than from unrelated works carrying Bien's name. Public auction records can help establish context when the category, subject, attribution, and sale date are aligned. The available source pack does not contain detailed major-auction-house scholarship, so it does not support broad claims about price direction, rarity, or demand.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine public artist-identity research with available auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots. Each object still requires separate review of its medium, attribution, publication context, and relationship to relevant comparables.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111094
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500003733
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/2769610/
- National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.39692.html
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Bien
- Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Bien
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/julius-bien/
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Da_Maduro_Peixotto_-_Julius_Bien_-_NPG.77.159_-_National_Portrait_Gallery.jpg