William Frye Paintings & Artwork for Sale | William Frye Art Value Price Guide

Nov. 09, 2023
William Frye 1822 - 1872 Oil on Canvas
Est: $200 - $400
DESCRIPTION: Approximately 1860 portrait painting signed on reverse. MEASUREMENTS: 23" X 35 1/2", 30 3/8" X 42 5/8" framed. CONDITION: Painting is applied to Masonite and restored and in a primitive mitered-corner wooden frame.
Cordier Auctions & Appraisals
Jan. 23, 2019
Oil on Canvas, "The Martin Brothers" William Fry
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
(American, 1819-1872), signed on rock l.c., "W. Frye," bears plaque on frame. Sight size: 29-1/2"h x 24-1/2"w Provenance: Berger Art Conservation, Inc. Property from the Westervelt Company, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Nye & Company
Jul. 14, 2018
William Frye Portrait of Two Sisters
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
George Wilhelm Frye (Germany/Alabama, 1822-1872) signed oil on canvas portrait of two girls, presumably sisters, one wearing a white dress and standing, placing a garland in the hair of the other girl, who is seated and wearing a rose colored dress and holding a rose. Unidentifiable landscape in background. Signed and dated en verso "Wm. Frye pinxt Aug 1869" with additional later inscription "Restored Feb. '49 Lynchburg, VA" and illegible name. Housed in the original giltwood and composition molded frame with applied fruit and flowers, 34" x 27 1/2" opening, 45" x 37" frame overall. Provenance: Virginia collection. Biography: George Wilhelm (William) Frye (1822-1872) was a portrait artist from Germany who established a studio in Huntsville, AL (Madison County); he also painted in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. His depictions of life in the western Black Belt of Alabama were important records of the antebellum period in the state. He also tutored future Alabama artist Maria Howard Weeden for two years. Historians are able to follow his career through court records and the newspaper advertisements Frye placed in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee; several advertisements in Alabama newspapers announce his relocations. By 1845, Frye had settled in Louisville, Kentucky, where he painted portraits, and he opened a second studio in Huntsville by March 1847 while maintaining the Louisville location at least into 1848. On May 18, 1848, he married Virginia Hale in Hunstville; the couple would have four children. He became a U.S. citizen on August 29, 1854, in Madison County. During the next several years, Frye opened temporary studios in numerous locations around the South, including Memphis, Tennessee, and advertised his services there for four months in 1857. Frye's growing reputation as a portrait painter prompted the Agricultural and Horticultural Society Fair of West Alabama to enlist him as a fine arts judge in 1859". (source: "The Encyclopedia of Alabama" by E. Bryding Adams). Alternate spelling George William Frey. (Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.caseantiques.com.)
Case Antiques, Inc. Auctions & Appraisals
Jan. 27, 2018
William Frye Portrait of an African American Man
Est: $6,000 - $8,000
George Wilhelm Frye, (Germany/Alabama, 1822-1872) oval oil on canvas painting of Southern historical interest, depicting a bearded African American man standing beside a posted newspaper, attired in a white shirt, red pants and suspenders, a straw hat and black boots. The subject holds a brush tinged with whitewash or white glue and a paint pail, and just behind him, on the wall, is posted the front page of the Louisville Commercial Newspaper (1869-1902). Signed lower left margin "W F". Unframed. 26 3/4" H x 21 3/4" W. Exhibited, The Howard Steamboat Museum "Fall Into Art" exhibit, 2010. Provenance: Estate of Lynn Scholl Renau, Louisville, Kentucky. Note: Lynn Renau was awarded the Isaac Murphy Award for her groundbreaking research about slavery and African American history in Kentucky. This painting, which hung over her desk, was among her most prized pieces. Frye's decision to title the newspaper "The Louisville Commercial" and give it such visual prominence is significant, especially when viewed beside his working class, African American subject. Founded by the DuPont family in 1870, The Louisville Commercial was the only Republican daily newspaper in Kentucky, and it also circulated in Southern Indiana and Middle and West Tennessee. According to one period description quoted in "Chronicling America," "its rigorous exposure of corruption and wastefulness in municipal affairs has given it strong local popularity and influence; it is a favorite in families and with business men, and the saloons and gambling dens are bitterly hostile towards it." Biderman DuPont, sole owner of the paper by 1874, had supported the Union cause and in an 1860 letter to his mother, wrote that "Slavery is a moral evil...." (source: Timothy J. Mullin, "The du Ponts in Kentucky," DLSC Faculty Publications, Western Kentucky University, 2009). In an 1873 ad the newspaper boasted it had "met the Democratic papers at every point and exposed their misstatements" (American Newspaper Directory, Vol. 4). Biography: "George Wilhelm (William) Frye (1822-1872) was a portrait artist from Germany who established a studio in Huntsville, Madison County; he also painted in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. His depictions of life in the western Black Belt of Alabama were important records of the antebellum period in the state. He also tutored future Alabama artist Maria Howard Weeden for two years. Historians are able to follow his career through court records and the newspaper advertisements Frye placed in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee; several advertisements in Alabama newspapers announce his relocations. By 1845, Frye had settled in Louisville, Kentucky, where he painted portraits, and he opened a second studio in Huntsville by March 1847 while maintaining the Louisville location at least into 1848. On May 18, 1848, he married Virginia Hale in Hunstville; the couple would have four children. He became a U.S. citizen on August 29, 1854, in Madison County. During the next several years, Frye opened temporary studios in numerous locations around the South, including Memphis, Tennessee, and advertised his services there for four months in 1857. Frye's growing reputation as a portrait painter prompted the Agricultural and Horticultural Society Fair of West Alabama to enlist him as a fine arts judge in 1859". (Source: "The Encyclopedia of Alabama" by E. Bryding Adams). Alternate spelling George William Frey. (Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.caseantiques.com.)
Case Antiques, Inc. Auctions & Appraisals
Nov. 29, 2014
William Frye American
Est: $20,000 - $25,000
An early Southern American portrait of William Hardy Timmons of Madison Co. Alabama.
Carlisle Fine Art
Oct. 19, 2014
William Frye American
Est: $20,000 - $25,000
An early Southern American portrait of William Hardy Timmons of Madison Co. Alabama.
Carlisle Fine Art
May. 18, 2014
William Frye (American/Alabama, 1819-1872)
Est: $3,500 - $5,000
William Frye (American/Alabama, 1819-1872), "Portrait of Three Siblings in a Springtime Landscape", oil on canvas, signed lower center "Wm Frye", 46" x 36". Presented in a period giltwood and gesso frame.
New Orleans Auction Galleries
Apr. 22, 2012
William Frye (German/Alabama, 1822-1872), "A Pair
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
William Frye (German/Alabama, 1822-1872), "A Pair of Kentucky Pendant Portraits of a Husband and Wif$E", oils on canvas, the man signed en verso "W. Frye/Pinxit/1866", 16 7/8 in. x 13 7/8 in., and 15 5/8 in. x 12 3/4 in., period frames. Provenance: Private Collection Clinton, Kentucky. Note : William Frye was among the most successful and prolific painters working in Kentucky and Alabama during the mid-19th century. Born in Reslau, Germany, Frye studied art at Heidelberg University. Intrigued by the American Indian stories of James Fenimore Cooper, he immigrated to America in the early 1840s. By 1845 he had moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he opened a portrait studio. Frye opened a second portrait studio two years later in Huntsville, Alabama. In 1865 the Kentucky legislature commissioned Frye to paint a posthumous portrait of Henry Clay. Frye's career was cut short by mental and physical health problems. Eventually he was committed to the Alabama Insane Hospital, where he died at the age of 50 Reference: Adams, E. Bryding ""William Frye, Artist"", Alabama Heritage, University of Alabama, spring 1994."
Neal Auction Company
Nov. 20, 2011
William Frye (German/Alabama, 1822-1872)
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
William Frye (German/Alabama, 1822-1872), "A Pair of Kentucky Pendant Portraits of a Husband and Wife", oil on canvas, the man signed en verso "W. Frye/Pinxit/1866", 16 7/8 in. x 13 7/8 in., and 15 5/8 in. x 12 3/4 in., in ornate period gilt frames Provenance: Private Collection Clinton, Kentucky. Note: William Frye was among the most successful and prolific painters working in Kentucky and Alabama during the mid-19th c. Born in Reslau, Germany, Frye studied art at Heidelberg University. Intrigued by the American Indian stories of James Fenimore Cooper, around 1840 he immigrated to America. By 1845 he moved to Louisville, Kentucky where he opened a portrait studio. Frye opened a second portrait studio two years later in Huntsville, Alabama. In 1865 the Kentucky legislature commissioned Frye to paint a posthumous portrait of Henry Clay. Frye's carreer was cut short by mental and physical health problems. Eventually he was committed to the Alabama Insane Hospital, where he died at the age of 50. Reference: Adams, E. Bryding "William Frye, Artist", Alabama Heritage, University of Alabama, spring 1994.
Neal Auction Company
Jun. 26, 2011
William Frye (American/Alabama, 1822-1872),
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
William Frye (American/Alabama, 1822-1872), "Portrait of John Gaillard Harvey Sr. (1807-1890)", 1868, oil on canvas, signed and dated en verso, 30 in. x 25 in.
Neal Auction Company