Own an Ahrens?

If you own a work by Carl Ahrens, be it an oil, watercolor, or print I would love to hear from you. There are a handful of specific paintings I am especially interested in either because they received a lot of press or for sentimental reasons. Please click this link to see if you may own one of them. If you do, I would be happy to forward to you any references I have on your painting.

Ahrens painted on commission, which means that most of his work is in private collections, not galleries, and this makes it difficult to track down. I am compiling a catalog of known works, including information about the medium, support, dimensions, title, date, and provenance of the piece whenever possible. I will never use any images sent to me without obtaining proper permissions from the owner. If you do grant me permission to use images, I will refer to you as "private collector" in any public forum unless you wish to be named. Please note that there are multiple copies of any prints, and all the prints featured on this website belong to individuals who have granted me permission to use the images.

Carl was known for forest landscapes, but he was initially famous as a portrait painter, and he also painted a few seascapes and mountainscapes. Those are rare, and I would love to see them. I have only tracked down one of the California mission paintings so far, and suspect many remain in California, as they would have been sold off there after the death of George Wharton James. I have only found nine of the Mercer Collection pieces, as they were sold into private collections.