Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

It's been in my family probably 80 years. My grandmother had it, somebody gave it to her a long time ago, and it was sitting in her attic for probably 30, 40 years.

APPRAISER

Yeah.

GUEST

It was behind glass, and it had a different frame, and it did have a little spot here, I think because it was against the glass. My mom has since moved south, and so it's been sitting in my dining room for about seven years.

APPRAISER

Okay, it's an oil painting on canvas.

GUEST

Awesome. Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

And you can almost tell that it probably got exposure to heat, and then cold, and heat and cold.

GUEST

Mm-hmm. Right.

APPRAISER

Which causes the oil to deteriorate a little bit, sometimes pool or develop cracks. So it was nicely restored. Whoever did that work, they cleaned the painting. It's probably nice that it was under glass.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

Because it protected it some. So currently, it's in a nice state of preservation.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

Let's talk about the artist. I note on the plaque that it's Richard William Hubbard.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

And he is a homegrown product.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

He's originally from Middletown, Connecticut.

GUEST

Oh, wow.

APPRAISER

So uh have you looked into his work or his biography?

GUEST

Not... I mean, I... I recognized the name-- I was in the Metropolitan Art Museum in the American history exhibit, and I saw two of his paintings there. Sure. About seven or eight years ago. So it was kind of cool to think that, wow, I have a museum-quality, like, painting.

APPRAISER

So Hubbard was living and working right in, in the period of time when the Hudson River School of painting, uh that tradition of painting, was really flourishing.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

And there were a number of artists from this area who became well known for this style of subject.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

So while he is perhaps a lesser-known artist of that particular school...

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

...he was a really good one. And you can see it in the work itself.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

The Hudson River School tradition, you see these expansive landscapes, and it was really popularized by the Romantic school of painting that the Europeans were engaged in at the time.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

This work probably dates to his mature period.

Mm-hmm. APPRAISER

Probably 1850...

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

...to perhaps 1875.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

It's a nicely sized subject. We have a figure in the foreground...

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

...and a mountain range in the background. And try as I might, I couldn't locate that exact range. I suspect it is probably the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

Okay. APPRAISER

It's a really nice example of his work.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

It's in a restored state, but a 19th-century painting like this, you would almost expect the canvas to have needed some help...

Right. APPRAISER

...some conservation at some point.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

So have you ever looked into value or ever explored that?

GUEST

No-- when my mother had it um touched up and finished, he said something like $5,000.

APPRAISER

Okay.

GUEST

But I've never had anybody appraise it. It's just, you know, I've never really thought to. It's just been sitting on the dining room wall.

APPRAISER

Sure. So for insurance purposes, I would love to know, get an idea about what it's worth. I would say for an insurance value, I would assign a number of $15,000.

GUEST

Oh, wow. More than I thought. A lot more than I thought. That's really cool. Yeah.

APPRAISER

Yeah. It's a heck of an example for him.

GUEST

Wonderful.

APPRAISER

Yeah.

Thank you. APPRAISER

Thank you for bringing it in.