Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry.

This is an exquisite oil painting on board which appears to be by the 19th-century French artist called Etienne Prosper Berne-Bellecour. This is a military portrait of a soldier lighting a cigarette, and it is signed “E. Berne-Bellecour” and dated "1907" on the lower right edge. Sight 15”h x 11”w. It is housed in a beautiful intricate gilt frame, and except for a chip in the gesso at the bottom right corner, this work appears to be in good condition overall. Provenance: Hyde Park Antique Limited.

Étienne Berne-Bellecour exhibited at the Paris Salon and the Salon des Artistes Français in 1900 and 1903 to 1905. He is known for his portraits, genre scenes, landscapes and military subjects such as this later work that you currently own which is executed in a highly confident style. This artist also produced many illustrations based on his paintings and contributed to several illustrated newspapers. His work can be found today at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The estimation highlighted in red above is based on comparables offered and sold at auction in the last five years. The subject work’s size, the composition, condition (based on photographs and comments provided), and the artists’ current auction market were taken into consideration when determining the estimate. In many cases, pricing for similar items available on the primary (retail) market vary and are often higher than secondary (auction) market examples.

However, after checking our records, a similar work as yours went for a much higher rate than the pre-sale estimate written above and was sold by an auction house in New York in 2019 for $10,000.
https://www.auctionzip.com/auction-lot/etienne-prosper-berne-bellecour-french-1838-1910-_8DF441CA46

Please note that a valuation has been provided on the condition of authenticity, which may need to be confirmed with additional research should you wish to sell this particular work. For more information, please visit www.mearto.com/authenticate.

Best regards,

Karine