# William Frederick Yeames artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/william-frederick-yeames/
Profile generated: 2026-05-23T15:01:31.141Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1835-12-18
- Death date: 1918-05-03
- Nationality: British
- Movements: Victorian genre painting
- Common media: oil on canvas

## About William Frederick Yeames

William Frederick Yeames (1835–1918) was a British painter known for genre and narrative subjects drawn from history. Born in Taganrog, Russia, to a British family, he trained and worked primarily in England and became associated with the Victorian tradition of historical storytelling on canvas. His most celebrated work, "And When Did You Last See Your Father?" (1878), portrays a young Royalist boy questioned by Parliamentarians during the English Civil War and remains one of the most widely recognized images of Victorian narrative art. Yeames produced history paintings, domestic genre scenes, and portraits throughout a career spanning several decades. His work is held in major British public collections including Tate and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Collectors encounter his paintings at auction primarily as oil-on-canvas historical and genre compositions.

## Common works and media

Yeames worked chiefly in oil on canvas. His most commonly encountered works include historical narrative paintings depicting scenes from the English Civil War and Tudor England, domestic genre scenes with dramatic or moralizing content, and occasional portraits. Prints and reproductions of "And When Did You Last See Your Father?" are widespread. Original oil paintings range from large exhibition-scale canvases to smaller cabinet-sized compositions.

## Market and appraisal context

Yeames's auction profile is anchored in the Victorian art market. His historical narrative oils — especially scenes from the English Civil War and Tudor-Stuart periods — tend to attract the strongest collector interest. Value depends heavily on subject matter, size, condition, and documented provenance. Works with clear attribution, exhibition history, or literature references (such as entries in Bénézit or Johnson/Greutzner) carry stronger market confidence. Smaller genre scenes and portrait commissions appear less frequently and may trade at lower levels. Collectors should verify attribution carefully, as Victorian narrative painters of similar style are sometimes confused.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine researched artist identity with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For William Frederick Yeames, identity data is drawn from the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, Tate, and Wikidata.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/85932
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-frederick-yeames-619
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1963206
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/41724302/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500010250
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Frederick_Yeames
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr94029919