Antique Oil Paintings between £0 and £0
Framed pictures painted in oil on canvas, board or panel, made for domestic walls: portraits of named and unnamed sitters, landscapes, still life and coastal views.
What You're Looking At
Oil on a prepared canvas, wood panel or board has been the standard European easel technique since the fifteenth century, valued for slow drying and depth of tone. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was the default for commissioned portraits and for the landscape, marine and still-life pictures hung in ordinary houses. That is the bulk of what turns up in this category.
The picture you're most likely to meet is a nineteenth-century oil on canvas, a landscape or a portrait, described by support, subject and period rather than by an artist's hand. "Painting" appears in around two thirds of the 11,708 titles on Sellingantiques and "canvas" in a fifth, while "signed" and "school" are both scarce by comparison.
Portraits are the largest single subject, and they take a bigger share of current stock than of the archive: ladies, gentlemen, young sitters and the occasional knight. Landscapes follow close behind, with river scenes, cattle, horses and regional tags such as Yorkshire and Scottish. Still life and flower studies form the third pillar. Marine and harbour subjects are smaller but persistent.
Dating is loose. The dealer-supplied field runs 1650 to 1960, and while 6,499 listings carry a clean year, the largest single bucket is the vague "19th Century", with "Victorian" and "18th Century" doing the same imprecise job. Decade-level dates cluster in the early to mid twentieth century, the 1920s ahead of the 1900s and 1930s.
What Sets Them Apart
Attribution does most of the work. A named artist sits at the top; "English School", "circle of", "manner of" and "after" sit lower, and roughly one title in twelve carries a hedged ascription of that kind. A signature pushes upward too, though its absence is the norm, and several of the titles that claim one hedge it as indistinct, monogrammed or initials only.
Age tells. Pre-1800 named portraiture and large mythological subjects hold the top of the range, and only 533 listings are dated to the eighteenth century at all. Small mid-twentieth-century oils on board and card sit at the bottom. The sixteenth century barely registers: a German School Fall of Adam, an Italian Renaissance Virgin and Child, a portrait of a noblewoman, and that is close to all of it.
Scale and format count. Large canvases read higher than cabinet pictures, and pairs are a habit rather than a curiosity, with 536 titles saying "pair" across cottage scenes, marine views and matched portraits of a lady and a gentleman. Canvas and a full gilt frame read higher than board, card or the odd oil on paper, tinplate, glass or slate.
Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for oil paintings between £0 and £0, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
The word canvas comes from the Latin cannabis - the hemp that sailcloth and painters' cloth were once woven from.
Michael Dahl·Colin Graeme Roe·Oliver Clare·Alfred de Breanski·Robert Cleminson·William Mellor·Alfred Oliver·Bessie Bamber·John Alfred Wheeler·Daniel Sherrin·William Langley·Alfred Pollentine·Godwin Bennett·John Holland·Thomas Murray·John Wallace
The Antique Oil Paintings between £0 and £0 Glossary
- Oil on canvas
- Painted on woven fabric stretched over a wooden stretcher. It's the commonest support in this category, named in around a fifth of titles.
- Oil on board or panel
- A rigid support, millboard, oak or another wood. Board turns up more often than panel, and both are a recurring note in titles.
- School
- A regional or national grouping used when no artist is known, as in English School, Dutch School or Danish School. It appears in 919 titles.
- Circle of
- A picture thought to come from an artist's immediate orbit rather than his own hand, used in 283 titles. Manner of claims style alone, with no contact implied.
- After
- A copy or version of a known composition, painted by another hand; 265 titles use it. Attributed to, in 209 titles, is the dealer's considered but unproven ascription.
- Canvas laid on board
- A canvas painting later mounted onto a rigid backing, a phrase noted in a number of titles.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are most antique oil paintings signed?
No. Only a small minority of the 11,708 titles on Sellingantiques claim a signature, so an unsigned picture is the norm rather than the exception.
Several of those that do claim one hedge it: indistinctly signed, monogrammed, bears signature, or initials only such as "Signed J F N".
What subjects come up most often?
Portraits lead, and they take a larger share of current stock than of the archive as a whole. Landscapes follow, taking in river scenes, rural views, cattle and horses.
Still life and flower studies are the third pillar. Marine and coastal work, harbours, fishing boats and ships, is smaller but turns up throughout.
How old are these paintings?
The dealer-supplied dates run from 1650 to 1960, with 6,499 listings carrying a clean year rather than a period word. The tightest date in the samples is a portrait inscribed 1606 on panel.
The largest single bucket is the loose label "19th Century", alongside "Victorian" and "18th Century". Read those as period labels, not dates.
Why do so many say English School instead of a name?
School is the convention when no artist can be identified. It places a picture by nationality or region instead, and 919 titles use it, English School most often.
Circle of, manner of, after and attributed to do similar work at different distances from a named hand. Together they cover roughly one listing in twelve.
Do oil paintings turn up in pairs?
Regularly. Some 536 titles say "pair", and they run from cottage scenes and marine views to matched portraits of a lady and a gentleman.
Pairs and large canvases both sit well up the range in the sampled titles.
What were these painted on besides canvas?
Board is the next commonest support, with panel and plain wood following. Millboard and oak both appear.
The archive also holds oils on card, on paper, on an oval wood panel, on tinplate, on glass and, once, on slate.