1895 William Staples Drown Oil Painting
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APPRAISER:
I'm a big fan of Florida.
GUEST:
Ah!
APPRAISER:
You brought in a little piece of Florida here. Do you know the artist?
GUEST:
Yes, W. Staples Drown.
APPRAISER:
Indeed. The painting is signed here in the lower left, very clearly, “W. Staples Drown”, who lived from 1856 to 1915. And William Staples Drown was an artist who worked at the turn of the century, primarily in New England. He's from Massachusetts. He also worked in Providence. And he was very active with the Providence Art Colony. Drown would travel extensively, very curious about different parts of the country, different parts of the world. Summered in Europe. And of course, traveled to Florida to paint. Including beautiful St. Augustine. How did you come to acquire this painting?
GUEST:
Well, it was first bought by my great-grandfather back around the turn of the last century.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
Then it hung in my grandparents' house for… ever since I could remember.
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
And when they passed on it came to me.
APPRAISER:
So there's been kind of an unbroken line of provenance right through your family.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And your family's originally from...?
GUEST:
Providence, Rhode Island.
APPRAISER:
Okay, which would make sense, based upon where the artist worked.
GUEST:
Yes, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Drown is best known as an artist who did landscapes. He's an artist who worked with a very soft palette, very delicate palette. He was quite accomplished, and he's an artist who, like a lot of artists of that period-- snowbirds we might call them today-- found their way to sunnier climes in Florida.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Thomas Moran, Herman Herzog, Anthony Thieme, Frank Shapleigh, the list goes on and on and on. What's interesting is that for several of those artists I've named, the high records for their works that have ever sold at auction are not scenes of their homeland-- rather, scenes of Florida.
GUEST:
Ah.
APPRAISER:
What else is great about your painting? The condition. Needs a cleaning. How long have you had it?
GUEST:
35 years.
APPRAISER:
Untouched since then, I imagine?
GUEST:
Right-- hung it on the wall, tried not to do anything to it.
APPRAISER:
Well, I'm glad you didn't. It's an original oil on canvas. It has not been relined. And on the back, the painting is titled and signed on the back, and it's dated 1895.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
The market for works by W. Staples Drown has come up. If we look at the prices going back since the '90s, and then we look into the 2000s, prices have risen steadily at auction.
GUEST:
Nice.
APPRAISER:
If your painting was offered today, this lovely view of St. Augustine, Florida, would probably be offered at auction for $10,000 to $15,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And that's based on what comparable paintings by Drown have been selling for and have been offered for at auction recently. The most expensive painting by Drown has sold for over $30,000.
GUEST:
And I'm so glad my great-grandfather bought it.
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