# Maxwell Armfield artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/maxwell-armfield/
Profile generated: 2026-05-30T12:18:39.591Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1881-10-05
- Death date: 1972-01-23
- Nationality: English
- Common media: oil painting, tempera, printmaking, illustration

## About Maxwell Armfield

Maxwell Ashby Armfield (1881–1972) was an English painter, illustrator, printmaker, and writer whose career spanned more than seven decades. Active from around 1896 until near the end of his life, Armfield worked across a broad range of media, including oil painting, tempera, watercolour, engraving, and book illustration. He is represented in the collection of Tate, London, and his biography appears in major reference works including Bénézit, Thieme/Becker, and the Witt Checklist of British Artists. Armfield's versatility as both a fine artist and a commercial illustrator means his work surfaces in a variety of collecting contexts, from museum holdings to the print and illustration markets.

## Common works and media

Collectors may encounter Armfield's work as oil paintings, tempera panels, watercolours, engraved prints, and published book illustrations. He also produced architectural and design-related work. Signed paintings and limited-edition prints tend to appear most frequently in auction contexts, while his illustration output may be found both as original artwork and within published volumes.

## Market and appraisal context

Armfield's work appears regularly at auction, with over 200 recorded lots across major and regional houses. Collectors are most likely to encounter original paintings, prints, and illustrations. Value depends heavily on medium, with original oils and tempera works generally commanding stronger results than prints or book illustrations. Provenance, condition, date of execution, and subject matter are all material factors. His long career means works span a wide date range, and early versus late pieces may differ substantially in style and market interest.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum records, library authority files, and biographical references with auction records, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Maxwell Armfield, identity data is sourced from Tate, the RKD, Getty ULAN, VIAF, and Wikidata.

## Sources

- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/2468
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/maxwell-ashby-armfield-663
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/51331207/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4069678
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500013696
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Armfield
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no99089887