APPRAISER: I'm all for artists doing their homework and preparing for their paintings, but Edward Volkert, who, in fact, became known as America's cattle painter...
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: ...went so far as to visit slaughterhouses.
GUEST: Didn't know that.
APPRAISER: To make sure that he was getting cow anatomy right.
GUEST: Huh.
APPRAISER: And I think he did here. What can you tell me about the painting?
GUEST: I inherited the painting from my great-uncle. He and his wife lived in Cincinnati. They had no children, but they loved to collect art. And they were contemporaries of Volkert.
APPRAISER: Oh.
GUEST: And I have a few other pieces of his.
APPRAISER: Well, Volkert was born in Cincinnati in the end of the 19th century, 1871, and started off as a portrait artist, but later went on to paint landscapes and more bucolic scenes. He also honed his American Impressionist style by joining up with the Old Lyme Art Colony in Connecticut.
GUEST: Huh.
APPRAISER: And there, we can really see the American Impressionist style at work. Here we have the broken brush of the American Impressionist style. But different from the European Impressionists, they always kept the form and structure sound.
GUEST: Oh, I see.
APPRAISER: And here we have that in, you know, quite solid cows...
GUEST: They are.
APPRAISER: ...and a very delicate sky. One of Volkert's critics spoke about how he was able to bottle sunshine, which was such a wonderful thing to say about an artist.
GUEST: It is.
APPRAISER: And I think you can see the great light that is throughout the piece.
GUEST: Mm-hmm, I've always loved the color.
APPRAISER: And this is the original frame for the painting, a beautiful '20s- '30s carved frame. The painting is titled "Avon Hills Pasture" and was painted in Cincinnati, Ohio. Have you had the painting appraised at all or...?
GUEST: It was appraised about 23 years ago, when my parents passed away. And it was appraised then about $450.
APPRAISER: All right. Well, he's done well over the years.
GUEST: Oh, good.
APPRAISER: And, at auction, I would estimate the painting to bring between $12,000 and $18,000.
GUEST: Oh, my goodness!
APPRAISER: Yes.
GUEST: Very nice. Thank you very much.
APPRAISER: So those are very contented cows.
(both laughing)
GUEST: To say the least.
