Rating and value of Catholic icons, tempera on wood

If you own a Catholic icon, and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers will offer you their appraisal services. Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its value on today's market. Then, if you wish to sell your work, we will guide you towards the best possible arrangement to obtain the optimum price.

Rating and value of Catholic icons

Catholic icons are highly valued on the auction market, whatever the period. Today, prices for these works are reaching unprecedented heights under auctioneers' gavels. They are particularly prized by European buyers. The price at which they sell on the art market ranges from €10 to €42,350 - a considerable delta, but one that speaks volumes about the value that can be attributed to Catholic icons. In 2023, an Art Nouveau-inspired triptych travel icon in vermeil sold for €20,000.

Order of value from a simple work to the most prestigious

Defining an icon

An icon (eikon in ancient Greek, meaning image), aims to represent the saints in the Christian religion. Catholic and Orthodox Christians use these representations to visualize the various key moments of the Bible and its characters. Protestants have no such images. Catholic icons are particularly famous, with the themes of the Virgin and Child and the stages of the Stations of the Cross particularly well represented. These icons are mostly produced using the tempera on wood technique, the denomination a tempera painting intended only to refer to the composition of the paint used.

History of Catholic icons

Very early on, religious icons were subject to strong stylistic constraints. The subjects depicted and the colors used were regulated. Among Catholics, the veneration of icons was as important as the lectio divina, the interpretation of biblical texts.

By the early Middle Ages, the technique of painting on wood was known and fairly well mastered. Faced with the need to represent scenes from the Bible and the various important figures in the Catholic religion, medieval artists very early on produced icons intended for private devotion, hung in domestic interiors.

In places of worship, churches or chapels, some of these works also often appeared on walls to provide a complementary representation to stained glass windows and paintings for the faithful, most of whom were often illiterate at the time.

In the Renaissance, the style of these representations changed but the technique remained the same. Some will be inspired by the First Renaissance and the canons of Antique bodies and faces, while others are characterized by Mannerist inspiration (elongation of bodies and use of pastel colors).

Gilding is also used extensively in the production of this type of work.

Icon production was also much used for the Stations of the Cross, 12 icons traditionally hung on the walls of a church and used to recall the stages of the Crucifixion. 

The icons most present in the Catholic tradition  

Today and as far back as the Middle Ages, certain icons are becoming very popular. These include those of the Mirgin and Child, but also representations of various saints highly venerated in the Catholic Church : the four evangelists : Matthew, Luke, John and Mark. The twelve apostles are also well represented, including Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Naturally, the majority of Catholic icons depict Christ at various stages of his life, including some of the most frequently used iconographies: the Descent from the Cross, the Nativity, the Last Supper and the Coronation of Thorns.

Their value today on the auction market

Icons have a high and stable value on the art market and are sought after by bidders. Their estimate can vary according to their state of conservation, their date and the subject represented.

Date your icon  

It is possible to give an order of magnitude concerning the date of the icon, depending on its condition. Work will be done beforehand on the state of conservation of your object and the study of pictorial techniques to determine the most precise date possible.

Knowing the value of a work

If you happen to own a Catholic icon or you think your object is one, don't hesitate to request a free appraisal using our form on our website. A member of our team of experts and chartered auctioneers will contact you promptly to provide you with an estimate of the market value of your work, as well as any relevant information about it. If you wish to sell your work, you will also be accompanied by our specialists in order to benefit from alternatives to sell it at the best possible price, taking into account the inclinations of the market.