Appraisal: 1878 Robert Spear Dunning Still Life Oil

APPRAISER: What did you bring with you to the ROADSHOW today?

GUEST: Uh, a small painting that I inherited from a friend.

APPRAISER: How long have you had it?

GUEST: Uh, about seven or eight years now.

APPRAISER: Did they tell you anything about how they acquired it?

GUEST: No, it was one of those items.

I had seen it in the house and I always admired it.

And when he passed, he left it to us.

APPRAISER: Oh.

Well, that's a very nice gift.

(both chuckle) APPRAISER: This is a trompe l'oeil still life painting by Robert Spear Dunning.

He was born in 1829 in Maine, and he spent most of his life in Fall River, Massachusetts.

So he studied at the National Academy of Design portrait painting, landscape painting.

But he ultimately finalized on, he was going to be a trompe l'oeil still life painter, and he is one of the best from the 19th century.

Fall River was a very wealthy mill town.

Still life painting was very popular there because it kind of expressed the opulence of the Victorian era, and the residents there really liked the idea of hanging one of his lovely still lifes on the wall.

He ended up founding the Fall River Evening Drawing School in 1870, which became a place where he could help other artists learn how to paint, as well.

That town of Fall River probably is the best-known town for still life painting from the 19th century.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: We do have a signature here in the lower right.

It's a little hard to read.

GUEST: Mmm.

APPRAISER: "R.S.

Dunning."

There's also a signature on the back, which is much more clear and easy to read, as well as a date of 1878.

It is an oil on canvas painting.

The condition is fair.

It has some craquelure, which is not uncommon for a painting from the 19th century, and it has some surface dirt, but a cleaning could easily solve that.

If we were estimating this painting for auction today, in the current condition, the auction estimate would be $5,000 to $10,000.

GUEST: Wonderful.

What, can't, can't beat that, that's amazing.

APPRAISER: With a little bit of a cleaning on this-- it might cost you about $500 to $800 to have it cleaned-- that would change the estimate to probably $8,000 to $12,000, because the painting would really pop and it would, it would look even more luscious and ready to eat those peaches.

GUEST: (chuckles): Terrific.