Portrait & Austro-Hungarian Frame
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APPRAISER:
When I originally just saw the painting and considered it briefly, my first thought was that it was probably a French portrait of the 19th century. It's characteristic in many ways of the very nicest quality portrait painting of the early to mid 19th century in France. The costume is very elegant; the boy is very lovely, and just beautifully painted, very romantic. As I began to think a little further about it, I came around to thinking that there's every possibility that it may be Austrian or Hungarian.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Although the style suggests that it's French, many, many fine painters in the other countries in Europe studied in France. Most of them, in fact, went at some point to France to study. What tells me it might be Austrian or Hungarian is this wonderful frame.
GUEST:
The frame, yeah.
APPRAISER:
The frame is actually a classic and beautiful example of Austro-Hungarian Art Nouveau frame-making and decorative arts. And the picture is a wonderful marriage of the frame maker's art and the painter's art. Now, I don't think that they started life together. I think they're a kind of quirky and interesting marriage of objects. And you can see the motif of the maiden here, the lotus leaves, the waves, the chestnut leaves here. It's classic of its type. I think the picture itself is probably worth somewhere in the region of between $1,500 and $2,500. As an anonymous but charming portrait. I think the frame alone is probably worth between $2,000 and $3,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
So if you put them together, I think it was an extremely nice gift that you were given, and I'd be...I'd treasure it, were it mine.
GUEST:
Excellent.
GUEST:
Wow, that's exciting.
Appraisal Details
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