Jehan Georges Vibert Oil, ca. 1875
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GUEST:
Story goes that it was purchased by my great-grandmother and her husband in Paris back in the early 1900s. It's a painting by Jehan Georges Vibert?
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
Who's a French painter, and it's called "The Sacrilegious Monkey."
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
His paintings, I guess, were always kind of making a little bit of fun at the Catholic Church.
APPRAISER:
Exactly. The painting is an original oil on what's called cradled panel. There's a cradling on the back, which would assist in making sure that the painting remains flat. Signed J. G. Vibert. And these Cardinal paintings reflect a larger theme, if you will, that was going on in society at the time in Europe, where there was more of a, not so much necessarily a repudiation of the Church, but a different view of the Church. The Church was not held in the same sort of high esteem.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
There were political conflicts between the conservative Church and the more liberal state. What I love about Vibert is the wonderful use of color. He was somebody who was a real innovator. He studied for six years at the École des Beaux-Arts and really mastered his craft, but an innovator in the sense that he was also a very accomplished watercolorist. He is said to have been involved in the invention of certain kinds of brushes and varnishes. And this particular color of red became known as the Vibert red, which he used to depict cardinals. Really a great attention to high realism. And the whole scene is really humorous. Now, we know the title of the painting, or at least as it was presented from your great-grandmother. Presumably that plaque was on it the same time she bought it. And it says "The Sacrilegious Monkey" on the back of the painting. Not all of Vibert's paintings are titled. Not all of Vibert's paintings are dated. I would probably date this work circa 1875, give or take, maybe a little bit later. These kinds of humorous pictures were immensely popular. Amongst the patrons, you had captains of industry such as John Jacob Astor, who were paying vast sums of money, along with William Vanderbilt. A painting called "The Missionary's Story" sold for $25,000 during Vibert's lifetime, which was a fortune. What I like about it is, it's fresh to the market. You said it was acquired by your great-grandmother... Yeah. In what, in the early 1900s?
GUEST:
Early 1900s, yeah.
APPRAISER:
So, Vibert died in 1902. Given how important he was as an artist, how popular he was, and how much his paintings were commanding, one wonders, do we know how much she may have paid for it?
GUEST:
I have no idea.
APPRAISER:
One assumes it may have been a pretty penny. Has the painting been appraised?
GUEST:
When my grandmother passed away, it was appraised at that time. We paid $30,000 for it.
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
When, when we purchased it from her estate.
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
My feeling, or my concern, maybe, is that paintings of this genre, uh, in today's market maybe aren't so well-liked or, or sought after. And maybe the price has gone down, but... It doesn't really matter, because it's a family heirloom. It's not going anywhere, so to speak.
APPRAISER:
Sure, sure.
GUEST:
But it's always curious to know.
APPRAISER:
Academic realists painting genre scenes have become a little bit out of favor relative to prices realized at auction, say, in the 1980s.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Or in the 1990s. The price that you paid, in my estimation, for auction purposes, is very close, in fact, almost spot-on, to what, in 2021, I would state as a value for the painting.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I think at auction today, conservatively, I would price the painting at $25,000 to $40,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
I would probably want to insure the painting for about $75,000.
GUEST:
That's exactly where it is.
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