# Richard Ansdell artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/richard-ansdell/
Profile generated: 2026-05-11T18:12:40.036Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1815-05-11
- Death date: 1885-04-20
- Nationality: British
- Movements: Victorian painting
- Common media: Oil painting, Graphic art, Engraving

## About Richard Ansdell

Richard Ansdell (1815–1885) was a British painter celebrated for his detailed animal portraits, hunting scenes, and sporting subjects. Born in Liverpool and elected a Royal Academician, Ansdell became one of the leading Victorian-era animaliers, producing canvases that combined close observational accuracy with dramatic narrative composition. His work drew on the British sporting-art tradition while also reflecting Continental influences from time spent in Spain in 1856. Beyond large oil paintings, he produced graphic works and engravings that circulated his imagery more widely. Ansdell exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and the British Institution during his career, and his paintings entered major public collections including the Tate. Collectors today encounter his work at auction houses specializing in Victorian and British art, where his animal and Highland scenes remain consistently in demand.

## Common works and media

Ansdell's most commonly encountered works are oil paintings on canvas depicting deer, stags, game birds, hunting dogs, Highland cattle, and pastoral livestock scenes. He also produced narrative genre paintings set in the Scottish Highlands and rural Spain. Smaller cabinet paintings, studies, and preparatory works surface periodically. Reproductive engravings after his popular compositions circulated widely in the Victorian print market and appear in collections today. Works are typically signed and often dated.

## Market and appraisal context

Richard Ansdell's works appear regularly at auction, with over 400 recorded lots in Appraisily's database, indicating an active and well-documented secondary market. Values depend heavily on the subject: large-scale Highland stag, hunting, and livestock compositions with strong narrative elements tend to attract the strongest bidding. Provenance linking a painting to a Royal Academy or British Institution exhibition can meaningfully increase its premium. Medium matters — original oils on canvas, particularly signed exhibition-scale works, command higher prices than engravings or reproductive prints. Attribution confidence, condition, and the quality of any restoration are standard valuation factors. Collectors should compare lots against documented public auction records and request full condition reports before appraisal.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum, library-authority, and specialist sources with documented public auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For Richard Ansdell, identity data is grounded in records from the Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, the Tate, and the artist's dedicated research site.

## Sources

- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/2001
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-ansdell-10
- Richard Ansdell (artist estate/research site): http://www.richardansdell.co.uk/
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/29803999/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500029940
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1571482
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ansdell
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2007154937