# Louis Victor Antoine Artan artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/louis-victor-antoine-artan/
Profile generated: 2026-05-27T21:49:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1837-04-20
- Death date: 1890-05-24
- Nationality: Belgian, Dutch
- Movements: 19th-century Belgian marine painting
- Common media: oil painting, etching

## About Louis Victor Antoine Artan

Louis Victor Antoine Artan de Saint-Martin (1837–1890) was a Dutch-Belgian painter and etcher recognized for his atmospheric seascapes and coastal views. Born in The Hague on 20 April 1837, Artan spent much of his career between the Netherlands and Belgium, becoming closely associated with Belgian marine painting traditions. Contemporary authority records describe him as a "peintre mariniste belge," underscoring his reputation as a specialist in maritime subjects. His etchings and paintings capture the North Sea coast with particular attention to light, weather, and surf. Artan died in Oostduinkerke, Belgium, on 24 May 1890. His work is documented in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), which holds over 360 images attributed to him, reflecting a productive career centered on the sea.

## Common works and media

Artan is best known for oil-on-canvas or panel seascapes depicting the North Sea coast, often showing rough surf, overcast skies, and fishing vessels near shore. He also produced etchings of similar marine subjects. Common formats include small-to-medium cabinet paintings and larger coastal panoramas. Works are typically signed "L. Artan" or with variants of his full surname. Collectors may also encounter drawings and watercolor studies of coastal views.

## Market and appraisal context

Artan's work appears at auction primarily within 19th-century European painting and marine art categories. His oil paintings of rough seas and coastal weather scenes tend to attract the strongest interest from collectors of Belgian and Dutch maritime art. Etchings and works on paper form a secondary market segment. Collectors evaluating an Artan work should consider medium (oil versus etching), subject quality and complexity, condition, provenance, and whether the work is signed. Comparable auction records from Belgian, Dutch, and international houses provide the most reliable pricing benchmarks, though public results for this artist remain relatively limited in widely accessible databases.

## Appraisily data basis

This Appraisily artist page draws on artist identity research from the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, Wikidata, and the Library of Congress authority file, combined with public auction records, sale dates, and comparable lot data where available. Page copy is independently written and does not reproduce source prose.

## Sources

- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/2615
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500031001
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/25761629/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q545005
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr92022657
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Artan