Henry Burn Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Henry Burn Art Value Price Guide

Apr. 16, 2026
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Dight's Falls from Richmond Bridge 1869 watercolour and gouache on paper 26 x 34.5cm
Est: $6,000 - $9,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Dight's Falls from Richmond Bridge 1869 watercolour and gouache on paper signed and dated lower left: H Burn/ 1869. 26 x 34.5cm PROVENANCE: Sotheby's, Melbourne, 24 November 1997, lot 91 Private collection, Queensland
Leonard Joel
Apr. 02, 2026
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Dight's Falls from Richmond Bridge 1869 watercolour and gouache on paper 26 x 34.5cm
Est: $8,000 - $12,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Dight's Falls from Richmond Bridge 1869 watercolour and gouache on paper signed and dated lower left: H Burn/ 1869. 26 x 34.5cm PROVENANCE: Sotheby's, Melbourne, 24 November 1997, lot 91 Private collection, Queensland
Leonard Joel
Mar. 17, 2026
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Dight's Falls from Richmond Bridge 1869 watercolour and gouache on paper 26 x 34.5cm
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Dight's Falls from Richmond Bridge 1869 watercolour and gouache on paper signed and dated lower left: H Burn/ 1869. 26 x 34.5cm PROVENANCE: Sotheby's, Melbourne, 24 November 1997, lot 91 Private collection, Queensland
Leonard Joel
Oct. 19, 2025
HENRY BURN (1807-1884), The Homestead
Est: $2,000 - $4,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) The Homestead watercolour on paper signed lower right: H. Burn 16 x 25.5cm PROVENANCE Private collection, Melbourne
Gibson's
Sep. 15, 2025
HENRY BURN (1807-1884), Celebration on Sydney Cove
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Celebration on Sydney Cove watercolour on paper 17.5 x 25.5cm PROVENANCE The Bryan Collie Collection
Gibson's
May. 07, 2025
HENRY BURN, VIEW FROM RICHMOND TO SOUTH YARRA HILL, 1868
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
HENRY BURN (British/Australian, c1807 - 1884) VIEW FROM RICHMOND TO SOUTH YARRA HILL, 1868 watercolour on paper on card 42.5 x 30.0 cm signed and dated lower right: H Burn 1868 PROVENANCE The Estate of Sweeney Reed, Melbourne Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne David Bremer, Melbourne Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Selected Australian Works of Art, Lauraine Diggins Gallery, Melbourne, 24 October – 4 November 1983, cat. 4 (label attached verso) Annual Collectors’ Exhibition 2008, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 1 October – 8 November 2008, cat. 5 (label attached verso) RELATED WORK South Yarra Hill, 1868, watercolour with pencil on toned paper, 24.6 x 32.7 cm, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne ESSAY Painter and printmaker, Henry Burn is one of the key figures in early Melbourne art history. While documentary records of his life are sparse, he is known to have made more than half a dozen lithographs; was a regular participant in local art exhibitions (at the Victorian Society of Fine Arts and later, the Victorian Academy of Arts); and enjoyed the patronage of the flamboyant doctor and politician, Dr Louis Smith.1 Having published numerous views of English country towns in the 1840s before his emigration to Victoria, Burn turned this experience to his account in paintings and prints of post-gold rush Melbourne and its environs. His landscapes are of immense historical significance as ‘a faithful record of the place’2 from the 1850s to the 1870s. They also have a particular idiosyncratic charm, with their urban-topographical realism enveloped within a pastoral-recreational dream. As the art historian Patricia Reynolds has observed, ‘many of Burn’s luminous landscapes have a light and airy quality which seems out of his generation.’3 Not surprisingly, the La Trobe Library at the State Library of Victoria holds the most extensive public collection of Burn’s paintings, drawings and prints – among which is an 1868 watercolour, South Yarra Hill, which features an almost identical view, taken from the north bank of the Yarra at a point opposite the Botanic Gardens, looking eastwards upriver. 1. Reynolds, P., ‘A Note on Henry Burn’, La Trobe Journal, no. 11, April 1973, pp. 49 – 59 2. Henry Burn, letter to HE The Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria, Sir J. Henry T. Manners-Sutton, 30 April 1867, Victorian State Archives 3. Reynolds, P., ‘Burn, Henry’ in Kerr, J. (ed.), The Dictionary of Australian Artists: Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992, p. 116
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 08, 2024
HENRY BURN, (c1807 - 1884), Toward Dandenongs, watercolour, 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm)
Est: $400 - $600
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Lawsons
Apr. 24, 2024
HENRY BURN, (c1807 - 1884), Toward Dandenongs, watercolour, 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm)
Est: $600 - $800
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Lawsons
Apr. 10, 2024
HENRY BURN, (c1807 - 1884), Toward Dandenongs, watercolour, 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm)
Est: $600 - $800
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Lawsons
Mar. 20, 2024
HENRY BURN, (c1807 - 1884), Toward Dandenongs, watercolour, 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm)
Est: $600 - $800
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Lawsons
Feb. 14, 2024
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884), Toward Dandenongs, watercolour, 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm), unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Est: $800 - $1,200
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm) unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Lawsons
Jan. 31, 2024
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm) unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Est: $1,000 - $1,500
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm) unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Lawsons
Jan. 18, 2024
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm) unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
HENRY BURN (c1807 - 1884) Toward Dandenongs watercolour 16.5 x 30 cm (frame: 38 x 50 x 2 cm) unsigned, inscribed and titled to mount
Lawsons
Mar. 29, 2023
HENRY BURN (1807-1884), Sandridge from the Lagoon c1870
Est: $18,000 - $24,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Sandridge from the Lagoon c1870 oil on board 38.0 x 63.5 cm
Menzies
Jun. 13, 2020
Henry Burn. An original early watercolour depicting the horses grazing in A
Est: $2,240 - $3,360
Henry Burn. An original early watercolour depicting the horses grazing in Australian landscape. Height 16cm, Width 25cm
Christian McCann Auctions
Jan. 30, 2020
Henry Burn (1807-1884) - Valley Landscape with Farm Houses and Figures 15.5 x 25.5 cm
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
Henry Burn (1807-1884) Valley Landscape with Farm Houses and Figures watercolour heightened with bodycolour on paper 15.5 x 25.5 cm signed lower right
Lawsons
Sep. 26, 2019
HENRY BURN (1807-1884), Sandridge from the Lagoon c1870
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884), Sandridge from the Lagoon c1870, oil on academy board, 38.5 x 63.5 cm, , Private collection, Melbourne Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 1993 (as View over Albert Park Lake to Hobson's Bay c1860, label attached verso, stock no.930513) Private collection, Sydney Company collection, Sydney The Changing Face of Melbourne 1841-1993, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 4 October - 6 November 1993, cat.3 (illus. exhibition catalogue, p.5)
Menzies
Aug. 03, 2017
SPORTING PRINT, 'THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CRICKET MATCH PLAYED AT THE MELBOURNE CRICKET GROUND, 1862,' BY HENRY BURN
Est: $80 - $120
SPORTING PRINT, 'THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CRICKET MATCH PLAYED AT THE MELBOURNE CRICKET GROUND, 1862,' BY HENRY BURN
Leonard Joel
Nov. 04, 2016
Henry Burn, painting
Est: $400 - $600
Henry Burn (British, 1807-1884), "Fox Hunting", oil on panel, signed "H. Burne", lower left, 4.75"l x 9.75"w (sight), giltwood frame
Millea Bros Ltd
Jun. 23, 2016
HENRY BURN (1807-1884), Ferry on the Yarra at Studley Park c1870s
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) , Ferry on the Yarra at Studley Park, c1870s watercolour and gouache on paper, 29.5 x 42.0 cm,
Menzies
Mar. 23, 2016
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) A Social Occasion while Boating on the Yarra 1868
Est: $12,000 - $16,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) A Social Occasion while Boating on the Yarra 1868 pastel and gouache on paper 23.0 x 32.0 cm signed and dated lower left: H Burn/ 1868
Menzies
Nov. 24, 2015
HENRY BURN 1807-1884 Melbourne from Below Jolimont 1873 watercolour and gouache on paper
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
HENRY BURN 1807-1884 Melbourne from Below Jolimont 1873 watercolour and gouache on paper signed and dated 'H Burn / 1873' lower right 30.5 x 50.3 cm PROVENANCE Private Collection Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in 1976 EXHIBITED Autumn Exhibition 1976: Recent Acquisitions, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, 1-2 March 1976, no. 15, 'View of Early Melbourne', illustrated Australian Art in the 1870s, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 June - 2 August 1976, no. 67 (label verso)
Smith & Singer
Jun. 14, 2015
Henry Burn (1807-1884) - Valley Landscape with Farm Houses and Figures 15.5 x 25.5 cm
Est: $3,500 - $4,500
Henry Burn (1807-1884) Valley Landscape with Farm Houses and Figures watercolour heightened with bodycolour on paper 15.5 x 25.5 cm signed lower right: H. Burn
Lawsons
Sep. 16, 2014
HENRY BURN (1807?-1884)
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
View of the City of Gloucester pen and ink wash on paper PROVENANCE: Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 05/11/1980, lot 899 Private collection, Melbourne unsigned titled verso 30 x 44cm
Leonard Joel
Jul. 13, 2014
Henry Burn. A finely detailed original watercolour
Est: -
Henry Burn. A finely detailed original watercolour depicting cows in landscape, signed lower right
Christian McCann Auctions
Mar. 20, 2014
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Valley Landscape with Farm
Est: $3,500 - $5,500
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) Valley Landscape with Farm Houses and Figures watercolour heightened with bodycolour on paper signed lower right: H. Burn|
Menzies
Jun. 27, 2013
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) A view from Bay Street,
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) A view from Bay Street, Brighton 1864 watercolour heightened with bodycolour on paper signed and dated lower left: H Burn/ 1864| 27.5 x 41.5 cm
Menzies
Dec. 06, 2012
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) A Social Occasion while Boating on the Yarra1868 pastel and gouache on paper
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
HENRY BURN (1807-1884) A Social Occasion while Boating on the Yarra1868 pastel and gouache on paper signed and dated lower left: H Burn/ 1868 23.0 x 32.0 cm
Menzies
Mar. 25, 2012
HENRY BURN (1807?-1884) Bay St Brighton 1860 watercolour and gouache
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
HENRY BURN (1807?-1884) Bay St Brighton 1860 watercolour and gouache signed and dated 'Hen Burn 1860' lower right 15.5 x 25.5cm
Leonard Joel
Jul. 20, 2007
HENRY M. BURN (1807? - 1884) - Lismore Castle, Waterford, 1871 25.5 x 18 cm
Est: -
HENRY M. BURN (1807? - 1884) Lismore Castle, Waterford, 1871 watercolour 25.5 x 18 cm signed and dated lower left: H. BURN 1871; inscribed lower left LISMORE CASTLE, WATERFORD 1871
Lawsons
Nov. 22, 2005
HENRY BURN (1807?-1884)
Est: $50,000 - $60,000
Richmond Park signed and dated 'H Burn/1873' (lower left); titled 'Richmond Park between/Melbourne and Richmond Cricket Grounds' on label (on the reverse) oil on canvas 58.5 x 88.7 cm
Christie's
Apr. 02, 2003
HENRY BURN (1807?-1884)
Est: $6,200 - $9,300
The Refugee from the Wreck, Coast of Brighton signed and dated 'H Burn/1870' (lower left); titled and inscribed 'N2 - The refugee from the Wreck/Coast of Brighton/Henry Burn' (on the reverse) watercolour heightened with bodycolour 23.5 x 35.5 cm PROVENANCE Leonard Joel, Melbourne, Australian, New Zealand, British and European Historical and Contemporary Drawings and Paintings, Sculptures, 4 November 1981, lot 77, illus. p. 39 NOTES Born in Birmingham, as a young artist Henry Burn travelled extensively, completing many scenic views of English towns. At the age of forty-three he boarded the ship Baltimore which departed from Liverpool on 16 October 1852 and arrived in Melbourne on 30 January 1853. He later married Susan Crane, who was one of his fellow passengers aboard the Baltimore. Relatively little is known about Burn although records show that he exhibited with the Victorian Society of Fine Arts. Burn was a topographical artist whose watercolours of colonial Melbourne and its suburbs are now of significant historical interest. His works reveal an interest in light effects and, as is evident in The Refugee from the Wreck, display a subtlety and softness of handling as well as superior draughtsmanship. Writing on Burn's work, Patricia Reynolds commented: "Nine of his Melbourne paintings are held in the La Trobe Library and like his earlier lithographed views, they too provide a valuable visual record of much that has long since disappeared. While they reveal interesting historical detail, they also reveal more clearly Burn's considerable abilities as an artist and his interest in capturing the changing effects of light and atmosphere, shown particularly in works such as... Brighton Beach (1862) a watercolour which illustrates the increasing popularity of Brighton once the railway, opened in 1859, was able to bring day-trippers so uniquely close to the beach." (P Reynolds, "A Note on Henry Burn 1807? - 1884", La Trobe Library Journal, vol.3, no.11, April 1973, p.52) The watercolour mentioned above, Brighton Beach (1862), provides an interesting comparison with The Refugee from the Wreck, which was executed eight years later. The suburb of Brighton had only been settled in 1840 but the opening of the railway line in 1859 quickly made it a popular tourist destination. Brighton Beach depicts a lively and bustling pleasure-spot, filled with day-trippers, boats of all description, and people promenading past the newly built, elegant buildings along the foreshore. In contrast, The Refugee from the Wreck shows a lonely sweep of beach and the focus is on the drama taking place in the water and on the rescue operation. A flock of circling gulls contribute to the impression of movement and activity. Despite this obvious selectivity regarding the composition and framing of the scene, it is possible that this work depicts the actual shipwreck of the cutter Water Witch, which was built in 1851 and lost off the coast of Brighton in Port Phillip Bay in 1870.
Christie's